A Change of Events
by Daisy3D
Summary: The 3rd Quarter Quell ends up with a different twist, and it's worse than Katniss could have imagined. Luckily she's been spared of the horror and as the rebellion rages on, she hardly has time to process life as a mentor before being thrown into the life of a District 13 rebel. Taking on the title of the Mockingjay with her only hope in the Capitol. {Mini Hunger Games Included}
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

"That's right, this year will be the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hunger Games, and that means it's time for our third Quarter Quell!" says Caesar Flickerman.

"What will they do?" Prim asks. "It isn't for months yet."

Prim and I turn to our mother, whose expression is solemn and distant, as if she's remembering something. "It must be the reading of the card." She tells us.

We hear the anthem play, and my throat tightens with revulsion as President Snow takes the stage. He's followed by a young boy dressed in a white suit, holding a simple wooden box. The anthem ends, and President Snow begins to speak, to remind us all of the Dark Days from which the Hunger Games were born. When the laws for the Games were laid out, they dictated that every twenty-five years the anniversary would be marked by a Quarter Quell. It would call for a glorified version of the Games to make fresh the memory of those killed by the districts' rebellion.

These words could not be more pointed, since I suspect several districts are rebelling right now.

President Snow goes on to tell us what happened in the previous Quarter Quells . . .

* * *

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder that even the youngest among us fought and are not always as innocent as we may make them out to be, our male and female tributes will be reaped from a younger age than twelve, and will be eligible at eight years old. Volunteering is _forbidden_." says President Snow.

I feel my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

He'll practically be sending in babies! A poor eight year old child has nothing against an eighteen year old monster. I feel my eyes pool with tears at the thought of it, and I hear my sobs before I even feel them coming.

Prim and my mother look baffled. They know this this is even more unfair than the Hunger Games themselves, and I walk out of my house before they say a word. I know that they'll immediatley try to comfort me about being a mentor.

Haymitch is sitting at his kitchen table opening a new bottle of white liquor.

"Guess you heard what the Quell's gonna be, huh?" He says with a laugh. I scowl and take the bottle from him. Anger begins to fill his eyes, and out of panic, I take a drink.

Haymitch visibly calms down and lets me drink.

"Can I have it back now? You shouldn't be drinking sweetheart. You're only seventeen. You know what, you don't have a choice, hand it over, now." He says. I protectively wrap my arms around the bottle and refuse.

He eyes me for a moment before deciding to just let me keep it.

"Snow can do that? Just send babies into the arena? It's disgusting. Imagine having to mentor an eight year old, Haymitch." I say in disbelief. He shrugs.

"I've mentored twelve year olds that looked eight." He says as he drinks from another bottle that he opened during my little speech. My scowl deepens.

"Yeah? Well, I can't do that. These kids will be eight looking five from lack of food and illnesses. It may be even worse than Prim going into the arena." I say with a shudder. Haymitch's bottle is already half empty, so I begin to take a few more gulps.

"You'll have to get over it sweetheart. Now stop drinking, it just doesn't suit you." He says halfheartedly trying to take the bottle from me, but anger rises in me and I stand up and drink the rest of the bottle right in front of him before throwing it at his feet.

I then turn around and make my way out of his home, only to be met with the terrible effects of alcohol. I barely make it inside my home before passing out.

* * *

I wake up with a pounding headache, and run to my bathroom before vomiting up the white liquor I'd drank the night before.

When I'm done, I sit back and wipe my mouth. I jump when I feel someone pat my back and turn around to find Peeta there.

"I came to make sure you were all right, but your sister told me that you'd drank yourself unconscious." He explains. I can't believe I didn't see him on my way here, but then again, my main focus was to not vomit all over my bedroom floor.

"I guess I'm okay. Just have a bad headache from all the alcohol. I need a shower." I say. He chuckles.

"Haymitch told me. I stayed here during the night to make sure you'd be okay, but I guess the alcohol knocked you out pretty good." Peeta says with a smile and I scowl, but it immediatley leaves my face and turns into a smile too.

"Thanks. But Peeta, what are we going to do? You and I both know that I won't be able to mentor an eight year old. I don't know how Haymitch does it." I tell him.

He doesn't reply, but instead helps me stand up. I brush my teeth and we go into my bedroom. We sit down on my bed and he sighs as he reaches for my hand. Our fingers interlock and we both stare at them for a while.

"I honestly don't know. That's why I came over. After the initial shock of it, I came to see how you'd handled it." Peeta says with a chuckle. "I stayed to make sure you wouldn't have any nightmares about it, but you were fine." He adds and I sigh.

"Maybe we won't have to mentor an eight year old though. Maybe we'll get tributes who are older." Peeta says.

"Hopefully. I don't want to look weak in front of the other Victors' when I burst into tears at the sound of our tributes' canons." I say. Peeta laughs.

"You'll be fine. Just don't get too attatched. I'm sure that's what all the other Victors' do. They don't really become friends until after they win the Games. If they do." He says. I sigh. We both know it's going to be hard. Especially being our first times as mentors.

* * *

Reaping day comes around faster than ever, and I'm not prepared.

My heart hammers in my chest as Haymitch, Peeta and I take our seats on the stage of the Justice Building. I sit in the middle with Haymitch to my left and Peeta to my right. I'm holding his hand tightly, not because there are cameras, but because I need an anchor. Just in case I need support.

I tune out the boring beginning because I'm just too nervous, and the drawing comes way to quickly. Effie is visibly less happy because Peeta and I are nervous. And in turn, Effie is unsure of herself.

"Ladies first!" She announces halfheartedly.

Anxiety bubbles in me as she walks over to the podium and takes her time choosing a slip of paper. When she finally decides on one, she slowly walks back to the podium. Effie hesitates though, and looks back at me.

I nod to let her know that I'm okay, and she nods in return before carefully opening the slip of paper.

"Josie Zaid." She calls out. I see people looking around and my eyes immediatley land on the younger group of children, but to my slight relief, I watch as a girl from the middle of the clump of girls bravely steps up. She stands taller as she reaches the small path that leads directly to the steps.

I watch as she smiles and carefully makes her way up to the stage.

"Well hello dear. How old are you?" Effie asks her when the girl takes her place next to Effie. The girl appears small, maybe due to the size of heels Effie is wearing.

"Hi, I'm fourteen." She says in a sweet voice. Peeta squeezes my hand.

"Wonderful. And now for our male tribute." She announces. Her voice sounds calmer.

Effie is more confident as she strides over to the glass bowl holding the boys' names. She selects a slip of paper at the bottom of the bowl before she comes back to the podium. She opens the slip of paper carefully and reads the name.

"Ren Crestley" She says in a clear voice. I again find myself looking at the youngest group of boys, but a boy from the back of the clump of boys emerges. I can tell that he's from the Seam.

He slowly makes his way to the stage, and he appears dazed. It takes him a bit to get to the stage. The dread on his face is unmistakable. My heart aches for him although he doesn't appear to be much younger than Peeta and I.

As soon as he reaches the top of the steps, Effie rushes to him and practically drags him to the opposite side of where Josie is.

"Hello, and how old are you darling?" Effie asks as soon as they are all in position.

He hesitates, but Effie taps him lightly on the back so he will hurry.

"Eighteen." He says in a whisper. My eyes widen. He's _older_ than Peeta and I. Effie presses her lips together.

"Wonderful. Now shake hands you two." She says, and her voice sounds as it's become less cheerful as she steps back to allow them to shake hands. Josie immediatley stretches out her hand to him, but Ren seems to hesitate. He eyes her for a moment before finally shaking her hand.

Josie immediatley let's go of his hand as soon as their hands shake twice and turns towards the audience and Effie takes the cue and looks over at the mayor as he steps forward and reads the Treaty of Treason. When he's done, the anthem plays and we all go inside the Justice Building.

Peeta and I watch as they are taken to their seperate rooms to say good-bye to their loved ones. We take a seat outside of their rooms and wait for hour to be over.

As visitors come in and out, I notice Josie has slightly more visitors than Ren and I sigh. Peeta's hand tightens around mine and I squeeze his to let him know I'm okay.

* * *

When the hour's up, we are all taken into a car to get to the train.

Peeta, Haymitch, and I are taken in a seperate car than Effie and the tributes. We get there first and await for their arrival with Effie and take our seats in the compartment we first enter.

It doesn't take long before we hear the doors open and Josie walks in, Ren and Effie trailing behind. She takes them over to us and they take their seats across from us.

Effie places her hand on my shoulder and I smile at her. She smiles back before leaving to her own devices.

Haymitch has promised to be sober for Peeta and I's first batch of tributes.

"Hello, it's very nice to meet all of you." Josie says breaking the silence. I nod and Haymitch mumbles a hello. Peeta shakes her and Ren's hand with his free one.

"It's nice to meet you too." Peeta says. Josie smiles and Ren stays silent.

"So . . . what happens now?" Ren asks softly.

I look over to Haymitch, but he just shrugs.

I take this time to look at them both.

Josie isn't very tall, but she has an air of confidence. Her hair looks a shade of brown that isn't common in our District, not to mention she has dark blue eyes. It confuses me as to where she's from. Nonetheless, the mix of very light brown hair and dark blue eyes on her pale skin makes her look beutiful.

Ren is about Peeta's height and looks strong enough to be able to manage on his own. He has black hair and gray eyes like my own, as well as my olive skin. I'm sure many girls from his age group in school find him attractive.

"Why don't we go eat? We can discuss more things tomorrow, we don't want to make you guys too nervous. I know how nerve-wracking our first day here was." Peeta tells them, and we all stand and make our way to the dining room.

My hand stays glued to Peeta's until I am forced to let go because we serve ouselves and have to hold our eating utensils.

"So where are you guys from?" Peeta asks them. Josie's face brightens, she likes to talk.

"My family owns the small jewelry store near the sweet shop. I've seen you around there before, Peeta. Same with you Katniss." She says with a smile on her face. I force myself to smile back and look at Ren.

"I'm from the Seam. And I haven't seen you guys anywhere but on our television screen and the town square." He replies bluntly. Haymitch chuckles. Ren seems to be a man of few words.

The rest of the lunch is silent, but I notice Josie wants to talk badly and I find myself smiling at her often throughout our meal.

We all make our way to the screen room so we can watch the recap of the reapings. I sit next to Peeta and Effie while Haymitch sits with Josie and Ren.

To my relief, only about one-third of the tributes are actually under the usual age limit. It still doesn't sit well with me though, these poor innocent children had four years at most before their name should've been in a reaping bowl.

Everyone retreats to their own rooms after the announcers commentary. One of them says that they're excited to see what mentors Peeta and I will be to our tributes. It made me nervous. Our tribute are already in the spotlight because of Peeta and I.

* * *

When I'm done with my shower, I hear a knock at my door, and let Peeta answer it. And we see Josie standing there. Peeta invites her in and she sits on our bed.

"Is something wrong, Josie?" I ask her, but she shakes her head and blushes slightly.

"I um. . . just wanted to know if you think Ren and I have potential to win the Games. I know it sounds silly and it might be too early to tell, but it's been on my mind the second after Ren's name was called." She says shyly. I smile at her, hoping it would calm her.

"You both seem great. Peeta and I's stylists will surely be able to make you shine as they did for us last year. It'll give you more sponsors. I'm sure at least a couple are considering you both already." I tell her encouragingly. She sighs.

"Ren maybe. As far as the audience knows, I'm a boring little girl." She says and I watch as tears begin to pool in her eyes. I press my lips together. This can't start now. But before Peeta or I can even try to calm her, she runs out of our room and we hear a door slam in the distance.

I want to follow her, but I need to change first.

Peeta takes the hint and goes to shower as I pick out some sweatpants and a loose yellow shirt. I brush my hair and then make my way to Josie's room. I knock softly, and she answers quickly.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted." She immediatley says as I close her door. I laugh a little. She's apologizing?

"You're fine. Come, sit. I know how hard this is. You're so young and the pressure is already tough." I tell her as we sit on her bed.

"I just don't stand a chance. Most of the tributes are thankfully older, but then again, that just means more _real_ competitors for me." She says softly.

"You'll learn many new things in training. Don't count yourself out just yet, and I'm sure the Capitol audience will love you." I tell her. She smiles at me and touches my shirt.

"Yellow is my favorite color." Josie says proudly and I smile.

"Mine's green, and Peeta's is orange." I tell her and she grins.

"You two really are perfect for each other. You remind me of my mother and father very much." She tells me. My heart aches at her comparison. "My mother is from the Seam and my father is a merchant." She adds.

That explains her hair. It's not common for Seam and Merchant to marry.

"I think you should talk to Ren. He seems to be taking this a lot harder than I am. I shouldn't be too selfish with your attention. Please go see him." She tells me. I nod and she hugs me good-bye.

I already don't want to let her go into the Games.

I make my way out of her room and cross the hall to Ren's room and knock. He takes more time than Josie to open his door. When he finally does, he looks surprised to see me and looks past me as if expecting something else.

"Peeta's showering." I tell him. He lets me in and I sit on his bed as I did when I was with Josie.

"Josie tells me that you're having trouble getting used to the idea of being reaped." I ask and he huffs.

"Well I'll be dead in two weeks tops, so why shouldn't I be worrying about that?" He says a little harsh and I immediatley reach over to my right, but remember that Peeta isn't with me. Ren notices and his face softens.

"I'm sorry." He says and looks down. He's pacing his room, and it makes me worry for him more. "I just don't want to be in an arena with little children. I don't want to have to kill a nine year old." He says in exasperation as he pounds the wall with his fist. He honestly frightens me a little.

"And I'm sure everyone will be falling at Josie's feet. She's like the female version of Finnick Odair. Just wait for her interview. I'm many grades above her, yet I've heard much about her from many people. She's perfect. But don't think I'm romantically attracted to her. She's fourteen." He practically warns me.

I think of Josie. She _is_ very pretty and seems to have a sweet personality.

"She'll outshine me. On the chariot ride, in training, and the interviews. Not to mention the arena." He says shaking his head.

"You look strong and healthy. You definitely stand a chance." I tell him, but he smirks.

"Only because you and Peeta are my mentors. That's why more people will pay attention to Josie and I. Another score for her. She's smart, pretty, and social. She may looks small, but I promise she's a fighter. She once beat up someone from my grade for teasing her about her mother." He informs me. Huh. Who'd have thought Josie would ever beat anyone up. His door bursts open.

A red faced Josie is standing outside of his door.

"Faren had no right to make fun of my mother being born in the Seam! And you stand more of a chance than I do. I'm not pretty at all! And I'm not social, I'm annoying!" She bursts.

She's has a hot temper for such a small person.

"Don't talk about me just because I wanted to make sure you were okay! You eyed me as if I were trying to kill you when we shook hands. I stand absolutely no chance against someone like you!" She says, her voice gains a higher pitch when she's angry.

"Please calm down-" I begin, but Ren cuts me off.

"No! Stop trying to make me feel better! My death is inevitable in that arena, and little Miss Sunshine's victory is in arms reach. Just leave!" He yells, I'm so startled at his own outburst that I grab Josie's hand and close his door behind us as I drag her out.

"Let her help you!" Josie yells before I fully close his door. She's breathing heavily and her cheeks are bright red.

"Get some rest Josie. Don't bother him for the rest of tonight. I'm sure he'll be better tomorrow." I tell her but she shakes her head.

"Good night, Katniss." She says before I walk out of her room.

Hopefully I can send them both to the Games before they kill each other. I run into Peeta as I walk to my room, distracted in my thoughts.

"What happened? I heard Josie all the way from our room." He says and I sigh. I grab his hand and pull him back to our room before I begin.

"I talked to Josie and it went well. But then she suggested I talk to Ren because she thought he hadn't taken it well, and she was right. I guess that she was listening through the door to our conversation because half way through, she burst into his room angry that he was complimenting her." I tell him. And to my surprise, he chuckles. I give him a look.

"That sounds like someone else I know." Is all Peeta says. I'm confused at first, but then I remember that I had sort of acted the same way when he was telling Haymitch and Effie that I was a good shot with a bow and arrows.

After I realize it, I give a dramatic gasp and slap his arm playfully. He's surprised at first, but he thinks that I'm being serious so he wraps his arms around me and I try to wiggle out of them.

"I'm just messing with you. But you know it's true. No need for violence." He whispers to me because I'm trying to break free, to no avail. I finally give up as he begins to squeeze tighter.

"Okay, fine. Now let me go, I'm tired. I just want this day to be over. And I want to see what Cinna and Portia will do for their costumes at the opening ceremonies." I say. He listens and lets go. I immediately lie down. This day has been too much. I hope that Josie and Ren won't try to kill each other in the arena.

Peeta wraps his arms around me and we get comfortable before I finally fall asleep.

I hope that Josie and Ren don't have a hard time to going to sleep. . .

* * *

 _I'm excited for this story! I hope you guys like the tributes/story. Please follow, favorite, and/or review._

 _Xoxo, Daisy_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

As soon as we arrive in the Capitol, people are waiting to escort Josie and Ren to their prep teams. I look for them before they leave.

"Look, they may seem a little weird or rude, but please, don't resist. They only mean to help you, they don't mean any harm." I tell them. Josie nods and Ren laughs before they are finally taken away.

"I don't think they'll have any problems with Josie, but Ren's an entirely different story." Peeta says and I smirk. It's true. I won't be surprised if they call us in to calm Ren down.

I wonder what we'll be wearing? We don't have to look as amazing as we did when we were tributes, but we still have to look nice.

Cameras begin flashing as soon as Peeta and I step off of the train with Haymitch behind us. I hear people screaming our names and trying to touch us, but I don't let them. I try to get into the Training Center as quickly as I can, but they're too crazy.

I'm relieved when we finally make it inside and I stomp over to the elevator, wanting to go to sleep already. I hurriedly press the button marked 12 and the elevator closes and I go up. I sink down to the ground and sigh.

The Games are all too real in this moment. _My tributes could be dead in two weeks_ , I think, and tears well in my eyes. I hear the elevator ding open and I step onto my floor. I immediately go to sit on the couch before I hear another elevator ding and turn around.

"Thanks for waiting for us, sweetheart." Haymitch grumbles. I feel my cheeks burn, I guess I accidentally forgot them. Oops.

"Your prep teams will be here soon to get you both ready. Cinna and Portia already gave them your outfits." He tells us.

"Won't the tributes be getting my old prep team, though?" I ask Haymitch, but he shakes his head.

"They're getting a new prep team. Luckily they still have Cinna and Portia though. Who knows what any other stylist would do to them." Haymitch says. I chuckle. They'd probably end up in coal miners outfits or naked.

At that moment, my prep team arrives in the elevator.

"Katniss! We've missed you!" I hear Octavia squeal. I smile and hug each of them tightly.

"I've missed you all too." I say before they take me to get ready.

* * *

I have dark makeup that's accentuated with bright blue and I can barely recognize myself when I look into mirrors. I'm dressed in a bright blue dress, black jewelry and small black heels. To my luck, my dress is long and goes down to my feet so I don't have to worry about showing too much of my legs. I look sophisticated, but still think the makeup is too much.

I want to talk to Josie and Ren before they get on the chariot, but they don't let me. They just lead me down to my assigned seat in the audience where I find Peeta, Haymitch, and Effie. I sigh in relief and sit next to Peeta.

"We're matching." I whisper to him as I see him in a gray suit with a bright blue tie. It isn't until I stare into his eyes that I realize my dress really brings out his eyes, and his suit must bring out mine.

"Yes, but you look a lot better than me." He whispers back, I smirk and look to see if he's serious.

"Under all this makeup? I barely recognized myself when I looked into the mirror. It wasn't until the thing in the mirror started copying my movements that I realized it was me." I say. He laughs and shakes his head.

"Even with the makeup. I do prefer you without it, but you still look beautiful nontheless." He whispers and I feel a blush creep on my cheeks. I try to look away so he doesn't notice.

I hear music begin to boom and I look over at the doors as the tributes from District 1 roll their way into the streets. The audience's reaction is immediate and they are loudly cheering for them.

They do look good dressed in luxurious fabrics and covered in expensive jewels and gems. They have a sixteen year old male and ten year old female this year. But the little girl looks so innocent and scared that my hatred for these Games begins to grow.

I gasp in amazement when I see what Cinna and Portia have designed for our tributes this year. They're glowing in embers and win the audience over in seconds. Their outfits would be identical if it weren't for the fact that Josie's is in the form of a dress and Ren's is a jumpsuit. But they function all the same.

Their outfits are amazing, and the audience just loves them. But it's Josie who wins them over the most. The Capitol audience seems to have given her a nickname because they're all chanting 'Jo' or 'District 12' and I'm proud of them and thankful for Cinna and Portia.

Ren looks uncomfortable as he waves every now and then and visibly forces a smile. Josie is a natural at this with her sweet smile and giggles.

She's wearing too much makeup for a fourteen year old. I'll have to talk to Cinna about this.

* * *

When we meet up with them in the remake center, they're talking and I'm happy to see that they don't look angry.

"Great job. The audience loved you." Effie says. I grab Josie's hand and help her down before doing the same with Ren and he's smirking.

"The audience loved _Josie_. I was just there, standing in her shadow. I told you, Katniss." Ren says accusingly before walking towards the elevators. I sigh, what can I do to help him? I decide to follow him and lift my dress so I can chase after him.

I reach him just as he steps onto an elevator. He scowls when he sees me. To my disappointment, more tributes enter our elevator upon seeing me and I have to force a smile. A couple bombard me with questions and he takes the oppurtunity to exit the elevator.

"Ren!" I yell before the elevator closes. I huff and press the button marked 12.

I'm forced to make small talk and answer the questions of some of the tributes who are excited to see me. _He's going to get it_ , I think.

All of the other tributes get off before me because I'm from District 12, and it's one of the first times I'm thankful for living there.

When I get off of the elevator, they're all waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Haymitch asks and I shake my head.

"Well, let's go wash up and I'll call you all down for dinner so we can watch the recap of the chariot ride. See you all later." Effie says as she shoos us and we all go to our seperate rooms. I tell Peeta he should go to his own room because it's going to take forever to wash all this makeup off.

All I want to do is sleep when I enter my room, but will myself to wash off all this junk. My shower turns out to be really nice and I change into some comfy clothes when I'm done. Not long after Effie calls me down to dinner and I go in a hurry because I'm hungry.

When I get there, everyone is already there except for Ren. Even Cinna and Portia are here.

"Ugh, where is that child? I called him down first." Effie says with a huff. He probably won't come out because I'm here.

"Their costumes were brilliant. You guys did a wonderful job. I'm sure people are already prepared to bet on them." I tell Cinna and Portia. They smile.

"Thank you, we spent a lot of time watching fires." Cinna says and I smile. "But of course, it took the right tributes to make this work. You did very well Josie." He says. Josie blushes.

"Well thank you. The costume was very lovely. If only I could keep it forever, I never wanted to take it off!" She says with a giggle. "Ren and I are very grateful to have such brilliant stylists." She adds.

Ren walks in then.

"Yes, very grateful for making us fast targets." Ren says with a sigh. Cinna's eyebrows raise and he looks at Portia. She shrugs and whispers something to him.

He serves himself in silence and eats without looking at any of us.

"We were the best looking tributes though. Being targets doesn't matter as much as having sponsors. They gave us a great advantage." Josie says quietly. Ren slams his silverware down.

"Stop being so cheerful. Can't you see we're on our way to death? None of those people really care about us. They just care enough to hope that the tribute they bet on wins. But then again, is that even caring?" Ren spits in her face. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head.

"Behave yourself, children." Effie tells them and Ren scoffs. Her cheeks turn bright pink at his response. "Well then, we'll see who I'll be talking about to the sponsors." Effie says quietly and I gasp.

"Effie!" I yell. She casts her eyes down to look at her plate like a child who's being scolded. Haymitch just chuckles at her words.

"See? You all hate me anyway. You'd probably let me starve or something. Even if I somehow do get sponsors who are willing to try and help me." Ren says in disgust and leaves.

"Such a wonderful tribute we got." Haymitch says when Ren's out of earshot. I scowl at him.

"It's hard for him. Just like it was hard for all of us. Stop with the teasing and _bad manners_ and help him out. Oh and you _will_ talk good about Ren, Effie." I say. She purses her lips at my words.

"Let's go watch the tribute parade now." I finish and everyone listens. I sit with Peeta and Haymitch while Josie sits with Effie, Cinna, and Portia.

I notice that this year, they show the mentors' reactions to the tributes. They spend a long time on Peeta, Haymitch, and I when the camera lands on us.

Josie blushes at seeing herself on screen when everyone compliments her on her performance.

"Ren did amazing as well. He just dosn't realize it, he doesn't want to. But you'll see. He's sure to get a high training score." Josie says.

"Thanks." We hear Ren's voice echo from the doorway before he disappears again.

When the recap finishes, we all get ready to leave to our own rooms.

"I'll wake you for your first day of training tomorrow. Get a good nights sleep, dear." Effie tells Josie before she walks off. I nod.

"Learn as much as you can. Don't waste all your time learning how to use every weapon, survival tips are just as important. Knowing the right things to eat and how to make a fire are both very important things. Good luck, Josie. Remind Ren about it too." I tell her and she nods before leaving to her room.

When Peeta and I get to my room I sigh.

"I just want Ren to trust us." I tell Peeta and he sighs.

"We have five days before they go into the arena. That's enough time for him to realize we're here to help him. And if he doesn't, he'll know that we do when we help him in the arena." Peeta tells me.

 _Hopefully he learns to trust us before then_ , I think as Peeta and I fall asleep.

* * *

 _I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! This is really fun to write! See you all next chapter!_

 _Xoxo, Daisy_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

Their training days passed by in a blur, and the moment came when Effie, Haymitch, Peeta, and I were waiting for them to come back from their private training sessions.

Both Josie and Ren refused to tell us what they were going to show the Gamemakers because they apparently wanted to surprise us with whatever they got as their training scores. Good or bad. They wouldn't even tell us what they practiced.

Ren looked much happier after they started going to their training sessions. I'm guessing he found something he was good at because he became less hostile and began to open up more to us. But Josie acted no differently. Just happier that Ren stopped being so glum.

So when Ren returned with a triumphant smile on his face, a flood of relief rushed through me. _I guess they didn't ignore District 12 this year_ , I think. _Not after they've seen what we're capable because of Peeta and I_.

"How'd it go?" Peeta asked Ren once he settled on the couch. Ren's smile widened.

"They gave us all fifteen minutes each, and I think that was just enough time to impress them. I know that no one had used my weapon of choice. When I got there, they looked untouched and still in order. They looked amused with what I could do with it. Those target dummies didn't stand a chance." He says. I smile, it's nice to see his happier side.

I begin to watch the clock for Josie's arrival.

I start to get worried after Josie doesn't return in twenty minutes, her fifteen minutes had been up and surely five minutes is enough to get back here. Peeta seems to sense my nervousness because he reaches out his hand to me and I take it eagerly.

Finally after thirty minutes, Josie arrives. Her cheeks flushed. I'm immediately worried, but calm when I see her smile. She strides over to us and sits down. I give her a questioning look and her smile widens.

"The Careers have asked me to be apart of their pack. They think I'd be a great addition, they say I have good skills." She says happily. I try not to let my face fall but she just chuckles.

"Don't worry, I told them that I'd let them know once the Games began. I don't think I'll really join them, I just felt proud that they thought I was worthy enough to be a Career." She says with a giggle.

I smile softly. She's much too young to go into these Games, she still has a long life to live. Her poor parents are left childless since she doesn't have any siblings. I can't even imagine the pain that they'd feel if she dies in the arena.

And poor Ren, this was his last year. His last year without having to worry about being reaped, and Effie had chosen him. Ren didn't tell us if he had any siblings, so I begin to wonder if his parents will grieve their only child as Josie's parents might have to.

These thoughts are just too much, and I physically shake my head as if it's going to clear my thoughts.

"Well, we should all get ready for dinner. It looks like you both did very well, I can't wait to see your training scores." I say with a proud smile. They both smile back at me and head to their seperate rooms, probably chatting about what they did in their private sessions.

Effie and Haymitch also make their way to their own rooms, but I decide to just wait here in the sitting room until dinner. I have nothing else to do. All I did was wait anxiously for their return, but they both seem pretty confident in themselves. I notice Peeta stays too and I turn to face him.

"Aren't you going to wash up or something before dinner?" I ask him. He looks at me for a second and smiles.

"Why? If you want to get rid of me, all you have to do is ask." He says in a fake sad tone and I can't help but laugh.

"Oh shut up." I say and throw a pillow at him. He catches it in one swift move and puts it behind him.

"Be nice." He says and I smirk.

We spend the rest of the time talking about Josie and Ren until Effie calls us down to the dining room.

* * *

When we're all done with our dinner, we return to the sitting room to watch the grand reveal of their training scores.

Ren and Josie look slightly nervous, even though they were beaming earlier. I assure them that they probably did very well and it seems to calm them down a little.

The Careers scores are all over the place this year, with their scores ranging from 5 to 9. I think that's the worst they've ever done in years. But it's understandable with the three younger tributes in Districts 1, 2, and 4.

When Ren's face flashes on screen, we're all leaning forward in anticipation. And then we're all cheering when an eight flashes up. But we quickly settle down when Josie's face takes over. And as I'm hoping that she gets a good score as well, a ten makes an appearance. I gasp in excitment and we're cheering all over again.

"You guys, those scores are amazing!" I say and give each of them a hug. They're both beaming and thanking everyone for the kind words.

There's a great chance that either of them could get out of the arena, and it makes me so excited to know that one of them could come back home. When everyone was done, I took it upon myself to ask them what they showed the Gamemakers.

"I'm pretty handy with a mace. It looked fun, so I decided to try it out and I loved it." Ren says immediately. I look to Josie but she shakes her head.

"I want to show you guys in the arena." She says with a sly smile on her face.

"But you got the highest score of all the tributes dear, you just _have_ to tell us what you did to impress them. We'll tell you what Katniss did her first Games." Effie chimes and I scowl at her.

Josie just giggles at Effie's words and shakes her head again.

"Let's just say I'm very limber, and know how to use anything when it comes down to it." Josie says with a smirk as she flips her hair and walks out of the sitting room. I sit there, stunned for a moment. She doesn't usually act like that.

Haymitch guffaws at her and I narrow my eyes at him.

"She's been spending _way_ too much time with you Katniss." Haymitch adds and I scowl at him.

"I do _not_ flip my hair!" I practically yell at him.

"I was talking about her attitude. But you do occasionally flip your braid in a dramatic way if that counts." He says innocently and I throw a pillow at him like I did to Peeta earlier.

* * *

When Effie awakens us the next day, I don't want to get up. I just want to go home and pretend that none of this ever happened. That I never met Josie or Ren, because in two days we'll be sending them into the arena. I take a deep breath before brushing my teeth and making my way to the dining room.

"Okay, so Ren and I both thought it would be better if we were coached seperately. Now what are the plans for today?" Josie says nervously.

"You both will have to work on presentation and content for your interviews tomorrow. So you get four hours with Effie and Peeta on presentation, and four hours with Katniss and I on content. Josie, you're with me first." Haymitch tells them. He nods and we eat the rest of our breakfast in silence.

Once we're all finished, Effie and Peeta take Ren to her room while Haymitch and I go to the sitting room with Josie.

"I'm sure we all know what Josie here's approach will be." Haymitch says and looks at her, but she looks confused, and when she asks what, Haymitch can barely hold back his laughter.

"You're the most cheerful tribute I've ever had. And usually my tributes are dull and scared. I think you're approach will be along the lines of being a Capitol sweetheart." He says and looks over at me with a smirk and I scowl at the reference of the nickname he's given me.

"You're kind, sweet, and polite. But I want to add a little spice in there." He says after a while and I look over at him with a questioning look, but he just waves me off.

"And what's that?" She asks, puzzled. He smiles.

"I want you to add a little bit of cockiness in there. You can't just be one hundred percent sunshine. I think you'll be able to play it right." He tells her. She seems to consider it for a moment before smiling and nodding.

"Perfect." She says. I have always been able to tell that she was confident, I think it'll work out fine for her.

"Great, now I'll ask you some questions and all you have to do is answer them sweetly with occasional attitude. First question . . ." Haymitch says, and we begin our little interview.

After our four hours are up and Haymitch is pleased with her performance, we go down to the dining hall for lunch. It doesn't take too long for Effie, Peeta, and Ren to arrive.

"How'd it go?" Haymitch asks Effie.

"Well enough. And you guys?" Effie asks us. Haymitch narrows his eyes at her blunt response and eyes her and Peeta before answering.

"Good." Haymitch says.

"Hopefully she's not as difficult as the boy." Effie mumbles under her breath and Ren gives her a look.

"She's a _joy_. Now what happened?" Haymitch asks and Effie lets out a distressed breath.

"Oh, my, that boy could not sit up straight to save his life. His smiles look faker than Caesar's teeth, and he got angry every time I suggested he do something differently! Thank goodness Peeta was there or I'd have ripped that boy apart. He was even more difficult than Katniss. I hope Josie isn't as difficult." Effie says and I scowl.

"No way that's possible." Haymitch continues her insults and I can feel my cheeks flush, I'm about to yell when Peeta puts his hand on my shoulder and shakes his head. I take a deep breath and focus on eating.

The rest of the meal is eaten in silence as there's built up tension between everybody. I notice Peeta giving Josie sympathetic looks for the rest of our bad behavior and that only deepens my anger. I'm scowling when Haymitch takes Ren and I back to the sitting room.

"I think you could get away with intimidating and hostile. What do you think?" Haymitch says to Ren and he smirks.

"Perfect. What's Josie doing?" Ren asks.

"She's going to act sweet and cocky for her interview." Haymitch tells him, and Ren snorts a laugh.

"Of course. She won't have to act sweet, but I'm surprised about the second part." Ren says with an amused look. "Josie, cocky? No way. I've never met a kinder person. Except maybe Peeta, he saved me when Effie began to threaten me." He adds with a chuckle.

"I thought it'd be good to spice things up for her interview. Some people might view her as more of a perfect Capitol puppet if she was completely sweet." Haymitch informs Ren. And after that, we begin with his questions as well.

 **x**

We're all clearly exhausted because of the days events when I get a good luck at everyone at dinner. Effie looks happier, and I can only assume that Josie did well. Effie confirmed my suspicions when she began to gush over her. I gave Ren a knowing smile to let him know that she's always like that so he wouldn't feel left out, and to my surprise, he smiled back.

"So are there any certain people we should be looking out for tomorrow? Future allies?" Haymitch asks them.

"Well, we already know the Careers want me, but to be honest I'm not interested in any of them being my ally except for the little girl from District 4. I also have a little friendship with the female tribute from District 7." Josie says. Haymitch smiles and nods his head. I begin to feel suspicious, but wave it off after a while.

"I don't need anybody but myself." Ren says matter of factly. Josie looks worried, and I know I do too but Haymitch smiles at him too.

"Okay. We'll look out for them Josie." Haymitch says and we eat the rest of our meal in silence.

Exhaustion took over me quickly when I went to bed that night ...

* * *

The next morning, Peeta and I are awaken by my prep team telling Peeta that they were going to make me look beautiful for him.

"I don't see a purpose for that as she's already beautiful." Peeta says, sending them into a fit of sobs at our little relationship. I give Peeta a silent 'thank you' for what he has to make me go through the next hours and he just gives me a sheepish smile before leaving my room.

Cinna puts me in another long dress today, and it's covered in figure flattering ruffles. It's a nice green color and I can't help but admire it. Cinna knows me very well. I have less makeup on than last time, and I'm happy about that. The green eyeliner makes my gray eyes look a different shade. I can't wait to see what he designed for Ren and Josie.

 **x**

When I'm brought to the designated area for mentors, stylists, and escorts, I again find that Peeta and I are matching. But this time, he wears a black suit and green tie.

"You look great." He says when I sit down next to him. I grab his hand before I respond.

"I look more recognizable, that's for sure. But I love what we're wearing today." I tell him and he smiles.

I hear Caesar's introductory speech and turn my attention to the stage. He introduces the female tribute from District 1 as Fidel. _Of course she has a weird name_ , I think. Fidel turns out to be a little diva, she has deep brown hair and green eyes. They remind me of Glimmer's. Maybe that's a trademark there like gray and blue eyes are to District 12.

As the interviews go by, I begin to get restless anticipating Ren and Josie's appearances. But when they call District 4's Minnow Vander, my attention returns as I know it's the girl Josie had mentioned yesterday.

Minnow carefuly walks on stage in her little heels that are clearly trying to make her taller, it obviously doesn't work when she takes her place next to Caesar and there's an immense height difference.

She has a shy smile as Caesar compliments her little dress. It is dazzling as it seems like water currents are rushing down it every time she moves and it reminds me of my own interview dress last year. Only mine was made of fire.

She had pale skin despite the fact that she was from District 4, and her hair was a light brown that fell in natural waves down her shoulders as she had particularly long hair. She also had a green starfish hairclip that brought out her eyes.

"My, my. Such an adorable little creature you are. Tell me again Minnow, how old are you?" Caesar asks gently. Her smile falls a little at his question.

"Well, I'm only ten years old." She says quietly, and the audience immediately starts gushing over her. Caesar's own smile falters at her little response.

"Now what was your favorite thing to do back in District 4?" Caesar asks her, she beams at his question as if memories from back home are surfacing on her mind.

"I loved to swim with my fellow minnows in my free time." She says softly and Caesar puts his hand to his heart as if what she said has genuinely touched him. The audience sighs in admiration as well. _She's good_.

The rest of her interview has the crowd falling for her. She acts very shy and innocent, but I can tell she's a clever soul. I wonder who her mentors are? I zone out again after her interview ends until I see District 6's male tribute leave the stage and Caesar welcomes District 7's female tribute, Acacia.

Acacia. I like the sound of that name. She's blushing as she makes her way to stand next to Caesar. I guess she's not very used to the spotlight.

"Well, hello Miss Acacia. How are you today?" Caesar asks her. From the looks of it, she's older than Josie.

"I'm nervous, but well." She responds calmly.

She's tall and very slim, her light blonde hair brings out her deep brown eyes. She's wearing a papery brown dress and I feel bad for her. It must be as uncomfortable as it looks. But despite how uncomfortable it looks, she manages to make it look amazing.

Her interview isn't as 'exciting' as the others' as she always responds in a calm and sophisticated manner, not to mention that she doesn't play along with any of Caesar's jokes. She acts very mature.

When her interview is over, I begin to think of how well the three could do in the arena. I remember that Minnow got a 7 and Acacia got a 5. They weren't bad scores, and the mix of Josie's high spirit, Acacia's clever mind, and Minnow's power to distract anyone with her sweet shyness, they make a pretty good team.

And when Caesar introduces Josie, the crowd begins to lightly chant 'Jo'. She smiles widely and glides across the stage waving at the audience.

She looks gorgeous. Much older than she usually does, and is a little taller than Caesar's shoulder, so I imagine Cinna put her in some tall heels. I myself am only as tall as Caesar's shoulders, and she's shorter than I am.

Her dress is a deep blue that shimmers with sparkles, and it compliments her eyes very nicely. Her makeup is light, but perfect as it accentuates all of her naturally beautiful features.

"Hi Caesar, nice to finally meet you. I hope you're not too tired to talk to me after having talked to all of these wonderful tributes you interviewed before me." Josie says gesturing towards every tributes except Ren.

To my amusement, Caesar looks taken aback by the fact that a tribute spoke before him. Usually, they're too nervous to speak until Caesar prompts them to. But the slight look of shock is soon replaced by a huge smile.

"Hello to you too, Josie. But I'd never be too tired to talk to you of all people! Did I mention you looked stunning?" Caesar responds, she fakes a blush as she raises her hand to her mouth to hide her giggle.

"Caesar, might I remind you that I'm only 14? Goodness!" She says giggling. I notice that Caesar is slightly blushing and let out a laugh. I've never seen a tribute make him blush, and it's the funniest thing I've seen because he looks slightly uncomfortable at the joke.

"Oh, I could never forget that. Now, can you tell me how you felt when you heard Effie Trinket call your name at the reaping?" He says. She closes her eyes and nods with a sigh. She's quiet for a moment before she opens her eyes.

"I was scared at first, but as soon as I realized that just about every pair of eyes in Panem would be on me at some point, I felt powerful. No one really cares about District 12, but we're more than the savages people make us out to be. We're strong courageous souls who really do have potential in these Games, and I'm here to prove that." Josie says in an arrogant manner, I can hear Haymitch chuckle.

"Of course my dear, this is the second year in a row someone from District 12 scored the highest out of every tribute in training. I'm sure your District is very proud of you. Especially your family, do you mind telling me about your siblings and parents?" Caesar asks. Josie laughs quietly.

"I actually don't have any siblings, Caesar. But my parents are wonderful people." Josie tells him, and there it is again. Caesar is blushing in embarrassment.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hope that didn't offend you." Caesar immediately says, but she just waves it off. "So, what do you think of your competition this year?" Caesar asks, which brings on a smile from Josie.

"I think they're okay but," She says before stopping, then, as if she's trying to tell him a secret, she lowers her voice and leans in closer. "I think I'll be able to win these Games in less than a week without any complications." She finishes. Caesar raises his eyebrows and smiles.

"And I'm sure you will." Caesar says. She smirks and gives him a wink.

"Of course." She says. And with that, the buzzer sounds and the audience breaks out into strong cheers for her. She blows the crowd a few kisses before returning to her seat without another word.

Ren quietly makes his way next to Caesar as the crowd calms down.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Caesar greets him as he holds out his hand to Ren. But when Ren just eyes his hand and looks away. Caesar awkwardly puts it down.

"So, Ren. Can you tell me how _you_ felt when _your_ name was called at the reaping?" Caesar asks him. But Ren says no, and Caesar begins to look irritated. I guess Ren see's it to because he smirks right after I make the connection.

"Okay." Caesar says. "But can you tell me how you feel about going into these Games tomorrow. You sure are at least a little nervous, right?" Caesar eventually adds.

"Not really. I'm one of the oldest tributes here. Not much competition for me, is there?" Ren says, and his voice _is_ in fact intimidating. It makes my skin crawl. I wonder how if any of the other tributes are scared, because I certainly would be.

"Not at all. District 12 is very fortunate to have such good contenders this year." Caesar compliments, but Ren's face takes on a cold scowl.

"District 12 always has _good contenders_ , but we actually have _good mentors_ as well this year. I'm not even sure how my mentors managed with theirs last year." Ren says disgusted with Caesar's words.

"Of course, Katniss and Peeta are bright young souls. But you're older than them, I'm sure it was awkward taking orders and advice from them." Caesar says. Now I'm scowling, age has nothing to do with mentoring. But Ren surprises me with his response.

"It was actually annoying at first. But I soon learned that I'd have to listen to them if I wanted to survive these Games. And it's really payed off." He says with an intimidating edge to his voice. Caesar is surprised at the way he answers the question.

The dumb audience is cheering for him though. They love his scary demeanor, and they keep on cheering until the buzzer sounds only a minute after he answers the question.

Caesar thanks him for his time before Ren takes his seat amongst the other tributes, before we all have to stand for the anthem, and everyone files out.

* * *

When we're all back at on our floor after a lot of hassle, we all take a seat for our final conversations before they're sent into the Games tomorrow. I'm holding my heels in my hands because I don't want them on any longer than necessary.

"You guys did great." Peeta tells them and they nod.

"Thank you so much. It means a lot, Peeta. Now what did you guys think of Minnow and Acacia?" Josie says excitedly.

"They seem to be smart choices. But are you sure a little ten year old won't be a set back?" Haymitch answers. Josie only smirks.

"You haven't seen her true potential. Wait for the arena, Minnow's sure to surprise you. I thought you'd have been surprised by her training score alone?" Josie responds.

"But she's a career. It was expected." Haymitch points out. And for the first time, I see her smile replaced with a scowl.

"Shut up, Haymitch. Finnick and Mags wouldn't be happy to find out that you don't think much of their tributes. Acacia is seventeen and she got a five." Josie counters, and he looks surprised. With that, Josie leaves without another word.

"Definitely been spending too much time with Katniss." Is all Haymitch says, and I throw my heels at him. Ren laughs and then leaves as well.

And with that, Peeta and I excuse ourselves before leaving to our room.

* * *

 _I might not update for a week because I want to focus on my big '1 year story anniversary chapter' for my other story, Until The Last Real, and I want it to be a big. I recommend you guys read that story too! Some feedback would be great! Until next time! (Acacia's name is pronounced 'Uh-kay-shuh' by the way, haha)_

 _Xoxo, Daisy_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_ or any of it's characters, however the charaters I've created for this story are mine.

 **Katniss' POV**

The morning of the Games, I woke up from a nightmare only a couple hours after I'd managed to fall asleep. It was no use for me to try and get more sleep because it was almost dawn. I instead brushed my teeth and waited for Peeta to wake up.

 **x**

I'm waiting with Haymitch, Peeta, and the other Victors' for the Games to start. I'm sitting on a sofa with a wall to my left and Peeta to my right. I'm holding tightly to his hand just in case I need something to hold onto if Josie or Ren don't make it through the bloodbath.

I then see the big screen on one of the walls of this large rectangular room come to life.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" Claudius Templesmith anounces before the countdown begins. They now begin to show the faces of every tribute District by District, Minnow from District 4 is smiling, Acacia looks frightened, but when the camera lands on Josie, I gasp and stand up.

She's leaning over her circular plate and heaving into the water. I can hear her sobs and feel my own tears begin to pool in my eyes. The Games haven't even started, why could she possibly already be breaking down?

Peeta claims my right hand once again and pulls me back down. I sit and bury my head in his shoulder. I've never seen Josie like that. What could they have done to her already?

"Looks like our star tribute isn't as well composed as we thought she'd be, eh Caesar?" I hear Claudius comment and my head shoots up, the camera then goes to Ren who I can see has his eyes focused on Josie.

He's yelling her name, but she won't get up from her hands and feet, even after she's done vomiting, she just continues sobbing. The camera moves away from him and does an overview of the arena. It's a jungle with a circle of water in the middle with 12 spokes.

The camera then goes back to the tributes and focuses on the countdown, just in time for the gong to ring. The camera pans over to Josie, and she throws herself in the water. It then shows many of the other tributes reactions, most of them are just standing on their plates. _They don't know how to swim_.

The Cornucopia is dominating the screen now as Minnow and her district partner reach it. The boy begins to scan the Cornucopia as Minnow collects four spears before heading over to the spoke closest to Acacia.

"Come on! We have to go, now!" Minnow yells. I then see Josie appear by her side and grab her shoulder. Minnow's first reaction is grabbing onto her spear before she see's that it's Josie and she calms down.

"Go help her, I'll watch your weapons and get some for Acacia and I. Only like five of us know how to swim. The tributes standing on their launch plates are easy targets. Hurry!" Josie says pushing Minnow towards the water, Minnow obeys and dives into the water towards Acacia.

When Minnow reaches Acacia, it takes her a couple minutes to coax her into the water. I then see Minnow teach her how to propel herself through it, and they begin to swim towards the closest spoke.

We then see Josie grab two bows and arrows as well as many knives and swords before making her way back to Minnow and Acacia who are just reaching the spoke. Josie helps Acacia up and they begin to run towards the jungle.

A knife is then seen s it flies by Josie's arm, she shrieks and turns around. The male from District 1 is standing nearby with many knives in his hand.

"What are you doing? Bring your ass over here with Minnow and let's go! Kill District 7 while you're at it." He yells at Josie. But Josie only smirks and shakes her head.

"In your dreams. Don't die too soon, honey!" Josie taunts before gesturing to Acacia and Minnow to run into the jungle. The boy is about to chase after him, but his District partner stops him and they turn back to the Cornucopia. Josie lingers though and swims into the water towards Ren.

"The belts are flotation devices. Our competition is too stupid to take risks though. Now get in the water, go to the Cornucopia, and get yourself some weapons. Good luck." Josie tells him before swimming off to Minnow and Acacia who are waiting for her in the outlines of the jungle.

After the girls dissapear, the camera shows the rest of the tributes. Ren has taken her advice and is slowly making his way to the Cornucopia. Many of the tributes are still standing on their plates though, and to my surprise, he says something outrageous when he reaches a spoke.

"The belt's are flotation devices, now get into the water and stop waiting around for someone to kill you!" Ren yells at the top of his lungs. Many tributes listen to his advice and slowly make their way to land.

And then, I see a trident lodge into Ren's chest as soon as he turns around, and he falls back in the water. I'm squeezing Peeta's hand tightly and I feel a few tears slip down my face. The male tribute from District 4 takes the screen now.

"That's for telling the tributes about the belts. And because your District partner took mine." He says with a smirk. I wipe my tears away and glare at the boy who killed Ren.

* * *

When the bloodbath is over, there are a total of nine dead tributes, which means that there are fifteen live tributes roaming around in the jungle.

The camera shows every tribute's reaction to the canons. The Career pack is happy, probably because they're the only people who actually killed. Josie, her allies, and the rest of the tributes are relieved at the body count.

But the rest of the day is still to come, these are only the canons of the bloodbath.

"What was wrong earlier, Josie? You were really scaring me. I'm surprised you figured out that the belts were flotation devices so quickly." Minnow comments, but Josie stops in her tracks.

"Nothing was wrong, maybe it was just the shock of finally being in the arena. But sorry for scaring you, and I honestly didn't know that the belts were flotation devices when I jumped into the water ..." Josie says trailing off. Acacia makes the conection before Minnow does and she's upset.

"Were you trying to kill yourself by drowning?" Acacia asks incredulously. Josie focuses her gaze on the jungle floor before nodding. Minnow gasps and Acacia shakes her head.

"But why?" Minnow asks softly. Josie snaps her head up and leads the girls deeper into the jungle.

"None of your business. Maybe I'll tell you later when I'm dying or something." Is all Josie says. Minnow wants to ask more, but Acacia stops her. The camera then goes over to the rest of the tributes.

I then see Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason make their way over to us and stand in front of Peeta and I.

"So, since our tributes are allies, I guess we'll be working together. Nice to meet you two by the way, I'm Finnick Odair, Minnow's mentor, and this is Johanna Mason, Acacia's mentor." Finnick greets and I force a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, but shouldn't you be worrying about your male tribute, Finnick?" I spit back. He just smiles.

"If either of my tributes is to win, I prefer it be Minnow. Mags and I are more fond of her than Baston. So I'd rather work with you guys and Johanna since both of you only have one tribute left." Finnick says. I feel tears begin to form and I look away.

"Sure, we'll work with you. The first thing we need to do is get them water." Peeta answers, and with that, we begin to work to keep our tributes alive.

* * *

 **Josie's POV**

The arena's hot, and I'm so thirsty. Minnow is the first to complain, and I don't blame her. She's the youngest and she's always had enough to eat and drink, being from a Career District and all.

"Josie, look for water." Minnow tells me. I only nod in response, and not even fifteen minutes later, she's asking me again.

"I'm trying Josie, but this is a big arena. It might take a while before we find water, hopefully our mentors bring us some." I tell her.

Minnow has four spears as her weapons, Acacia has a bow and arrows as well as two swords, and I have a huge amount of knives as well as the other bow and arrows.

I stop after about five more minutes of walking and sit down, Minnow and Acacia do the same. Just then, I see a parachute land in front of us and I nod to Minnow so she can retrieve it.

She opens it to find a bag and two weird belts, as well as a small cylinder. I look at our first gifts, puzzled.

"These belts are designed to carry large tridents, spears, or knives. So I imagine one is for me, and the other is for Acacia, while you get this special pouch that won't cut open with all your knives Josie. But I don't know what that other thing does." Minnow informs us while putting on her belt and slipping in her spears.

Acacia does the same with her belt and swords while I fill my special pouch with my knives. After that, we just sit there looking at the thing before Acacia lets out a gasp.

"I knew it looked familiar! It's a spile! You put it in a tree that holds something inside, and it pours out whatever the tree holds. Trees can hold water! Maybe these types of trees hold water!" Acacia exclaims before she asks for one of my knives and begins to hack at the closest tree.

"Of course you'd know that. Thank goodness we have you Acacia. Living with trees and intelligence does help you survive an arena." Minnow compliments, and then we hear Acacia shriek and water come spilling out of the tree.

We each take turns drinking before I put the spile in an extra pocket in my bag. That's when we hear it. I hear rustling in the trees before a girl drops down.

"Give me the spile and I won't kill you." She says, but when Minnow says no, she begins to step towards us. I push Minnow and Acacia down as I go down into a special position and catch the knife. I then use her own knife against her as I throw it back at her.

She ducks down and smirks as she stands back up, but then we hear a _zap!_ and she turns around, only to be met with a knife in her neck.

Minnow gasps and we hear a canon sound.

"Thanks Josie. I still don't understand how you can do that. But it's awesome." Minnow says gesturing to my position. I have my left leg in front of me and my right leg behind me, and they form a straight line.

"Josie's just really flexible. I've never seen anyone do it before though, you really are talented Josie." Acacia says as I stand up.

"I don't know, I was just bored one day and found out that my body can bend and do a lot of weird stuff. And it comes in handy during combat." I tell them, waving it off.

"So, are we just going to ignore the fact that the knife bounced back after Josie threw it?" Minnow asks. And then I'm confused too, because she's right.

"I believe it was a force field, we're at the end of the arena. Now we know to be extra careful. If Josie hadn't stopped, she'd have run straight into it." Acacia explains. Minnow and I nod. I can't believe I almost met my death, not even twenty-four hours in the arena. I guess that spile saved our lives in more than one way.

"It's getting dark, we should find a place to settle down. Minnow, you're good at knot-tying right? Can you make something for us to sleep in? I don't feel comfortable sleeping on the jungle floor. We don't know what's out here." Acacia says. Minnow nods and begins to collect pieces of vine and such.

"Acacia, can you try and find some food? I'm no good at using bow and arrows, but if you need mine too, just let me know. I can keep watch." I tell her and she begins to search for food.

I take this time to inspect our surroundings. Nothing much except strange trees and plant life. Not to mention the bugs and reptiles. I listen more closely for any signs of danger. I guess I zone out too, because when Minnow talks to inform me that she's made mats for us to lay on, I almost stab her. She shrieks at my sudden move and Acacia comes running.

"Calm down, Josie! You could've hurt her!" Acacia whisper yells so she doesn't attract any unwanted visitors. I sigh and look away from them, I have to stop being so paranoid. I can't change what Snow's done. He can't get me in the arena.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been so paranoid since we entered the arena. I forgot Minnow was with me and thought that someone was trying to attack us again. I really didn't mean to scare you, Minnow." I apologize, Minnow nods and takes us to our mats.

We hear the anthem just as we sit down and turn our attention to the sky. It's time to see who's died this first night.

The faces are all foreign to me until the girl who attacked us shows up on screen, she was from District 5. We then see Acacia's District partner and Minnow and I both pat her shoulder. But when I see Ren's face before the anthem ends, I decide I can't take it any longer. I stand up and look for my bag.

"Don't follow me, I'll be back. Don't sleep until I return." Is all I manage to choke out before I pick up my bag and run deep into the woods where I know my outburst won't hurt them.

"Why? First someone I loved, then someone I trusted? Just kill me now! I don't want any of this! I didn't volunteer to be in these Games, or you'd have never known I existed! Just kill me now before you do anyone else I care about!" I yell at the sky before I burst into tears.

Just then, I hear someone run towards me, so I dodge behind a tree and crouch down. I don't know who it is, but judging by the body frame, I assume it's a boy. My suspicions are confirmed when he speaks.

"Josie? Josie, is that you? I've been looking for you all over the place. The rest of the pack isn't too far behind. If you come out now, I won't hurt you. Or any of your allies. I was hoping you weren't dead. When I saw that your face wasn't in the sky and I heard your voice, I was elated." I hear Odin say.

I keep quiet, but he starts to get angry at the silence. He starts to yell that he knows he heard me, and my allies were going to be dead when he found me. It was that confession that rose the anger inside of me, and I silently grabbed a knife from my bag while he kept on hollering.

Before I threw my knife I waited for him to stand still, and when he did, I aimed to shut him up and watched it lodge securely in his throat. As soon as he falls to the ground, and his canon sounds, many footsteps can be heard nearby, and I ready more knives.

As soon as I saw them run in front of me, I silently attacked and aimed my knives as best as I could so I had more of a chance to kill them before they noticed me, although it was harder to aim while they were running.

Surprisingly, I managed to take down two of the four before the rest stopped and began to look around. I tried to conceal myself better as they looked in the opposite direction. When they found nothing, they were puzzled, and to my relief, decided to move on.

I waited for a while before making my way back to Acacia and Minnow to make sure they wouldn't be able to hear and follow me.

When I got back, I was relieved to find them alive and well.

"Oh my goodness, don't ever do that again. We heard three canons and worried that one of them was yours. I'm glad you're a good fighter, or else we'd have had no hope." Acacia says, and I smile.

"I managed to take down three of the Careers, that means we only have two Careers left to worry about. I didn't look for faces though, I just aimed to kill. We'll see who all is dead tomorrow." I inform them, and they nod.

"Go to sleep, I'll take the first watch." I say. They're too tired to argue, so they listen and immediately fall asleep.

* * *

 _I lied, I just couldn't help myself, I just had to write another chapter, haha! The Games have begun! Who do you think will win? Half the tributes are already gone, and it might not take too long before they have a Vcitor. Until next chapter!_

 _Oh, and I just wanted to tell you guys that I've published a SYOT and it'd be great if you guys could send in a tribute!_

 _Xoxo, Daisy_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Josie's POV**

I'm so tired, and I can barely keep my eyes open. But I will myself to stay awake, for Minnow and Acacia.

It's sometime after the lightning strikes when I first begin to feel the drops. They come down slowly at first, and I'm excited, believing that it was water. Only to be met with a mouth full of a metalic taste of blood. I immediately begin gagging and begin to shake Acacia's shoulder.

She'd told me she was a heavy sleeper. I securely put on my backpack before picking up Minnow and Acacia's belts. It's raining harder now and I can't believe that they're still sleeping.

"Minnow! Acacia! Get up now, please! We have to go! It's... It's blood! Hurry!" I yell. This wakes them up, and Minnow opens her mouth, probably to respond, but immediately begins throwing up the mouthful of blood she took in.

Acacia lifts up her little mat and puts it above her head before she takes her belt from me. I walk over to Minnow and put her mat above her head. After she's done throwing up, she holds the mat over her head herself as I adjust her belt and get my own mat to cover my head.

"To the beach, let's go! I can't stand this! I'm going to pass out!" Acacia yells as she bolts ahead, this is the fastest I've ever seen her run. I begin to run after her, but eventually loose sight of her. This blood's thick and is ruining my line of vision. I look behind me, and find that Minnow is gone too.

I end up running into a tree, distracted with looking behind me. My head takes the worst of the impact and I feel it start to pound and my world begins to grow dizzy. I stumble ahead, but soon realize that I'm going to pass out, so I search for a place that I'd be able to hide under.

I find a weird bush like plant that's so big, it could conceal about four of me, so I take whatever power I have left and crawl under it. Placing my mat over my head to shield my face from this horrid rain before darkness takes me under ...

* * *

I awaken to a pounding headache and groan. I start to panic when all I see is darkness until I realize that my mat is still on top of my head and take it off, remembering what happened before I blacked out.

I begin to worry, are Minnow and Acacia okay? I crawl out from my hiding place and find nothing. Acacia said she was going to the beach, maybe they're there.

Wait, which way is the beach again? I look around me for a while and groan again. Seriously? Of all things, I get lost in this stupid arena.

I decide on a path and begin walking. It's bright and the sun is well above the sky so I assume that it's sometime in the afternoon. It doesn't take long for me to get thirsty so I tap a tree and drink as much as I can. I then shriek in horror as I take a good look at my arms and find them caked in blood. I look down at my legs and find them covered in blood too.

I quickly take the spiel and put it back in my bag before I run blindly, looking for the beach. I need to get this disgusting blood off of me. I yell in frustration after about 40 minutes of alternating between running, walking, and jogging before I sit down.

I pull off a large strip of moss from a tree before putting it into my mouth and screaming at the top of my lungs. I begin to try to scrape the blood off me as I scream, but it's too thick and tears begin pouring down my cheeks. I _need_ to get this off.

Eventually, I have to stop screaming because I begin to choke on the moss with my raw throat. My teeth ache from having bitten down on the moss so hard and I take it out of my mouth and throw it into the jungle out of anger. I stand up once again, and take the spiel out of my bag to tap the tree I'm leaning against.

After slightly soothing my aching throat with some water, I put away the spiel and take out a dagger for protection. I pick a different path to take and am just about to begin my journey when I hear her.

Minnow's screams sounds terrified and I tighten my grip on my dagger, looking around, only to find nothing

"Minnow? Minnow, where are you? Answer me!" I whisper into the trees, but she can't hear me. _Stupid, stupid_ , I think to myself. _Why couldn't I have been patient and not yelled into a bit of moss_.

I get nothing in response. Not in words at least, her agonizing screams just pierce my ears. And it's not too long after that when Acacia joins her.

"No! Acacia! Minnow! Please answer me! I can help you! Just... just stop screaming! I'm trying my best to find you!" I try to yell back, tears pouring down my face. Their screams are then joined by my father and I begin to frantically run around, trying to save them.

"Not you, Dad! I'm so sorry! So, _so_ sorry! Please tell me where you are. Don't die on me, I love you. So much." I whisper, my voice almost gone. I'm sobbing so hard, my whole body shakes. But it's the voices that join after that, that haunt me the most.

"Nara! Lars! Tell me where you are! I love you both so much! Don't die on me! Please, I can help you!" I try to scream, but my words only come out in whispers.

I become light headed again, but this time, I have no time to look for cover. I feel myself falling, and before I know it, I'm on the ground.

My last thoughts are that I'm a coward who's going to be found and killed by tributes who wander by. At least Minnow and Acacia will have one less thing to worry about.

And then I'm out.

* * *

 **Katniss' POV**

I can't stand watching her like this. She doesn't understand, it's not really them. But there she is, trying to yell to them. Poor, sweet, Josie.

"This is too cruel. Jabberjays? They're hardly ever used in arena's. Why now? I would rather die than hear screams like that coming from a jabberjays mouth. I wonder who Lars and Nara are." I whisper to Peeta.

"Josie's a strong girl, Katniss. I'm-" He begins, but stops just as we see Josie fall to the ground, unconcious. I'm squeezing his hand even harder now and I bury my face in his shoulder.

"We all have a breaking point Peeta." I say into his shoulder, tears pouring into his shirt. He sighs and hugs me. Planting a kiss to the top of my head.

"I know. If only she'd have kept going the direction she planned. If she'd have just gone the way she was planning before the screams, Josie would have reached them on the shore in no more than ten minutes. Maybe they'll find her soon." He whispers into my hair. I nod because that's the only thing I can manage.

I never knew how attached I'd gotten to them until Ren died, and now poor Josie is suffering. Who knows what will happen if someone finds her like that. _At least she wouldn't be awake for it_ , I tell myself. _She was able to take cover the first time, sadly she isn't so lucky now._

* * *

 **Josie's POV**

I sit upright, choking. Spluttering as soon as I get up. Water is running down my face, and I try to breath. I feel someone pat my back and I turn around in a frenzy. I jump when I see it's Acacia and study her for any signs of harm. But she looks okay.

"Sorry. You wouldn't wake up no matter what we tried. It should be getting dark soon, lucky we found you before anyone else did. Are you okay? What happened?" Minnow asks. I just stare at her in wonder. She's okay too.

"Josie?" Minnow asks, but I don't respond. Acacia walks over and stands in front of me, grabbing my face in her hands. It's really her. They're really okay. I reach out with one hand to touch her face as well. And she's really here, not dead. Not hurt.

"She appears to be in shock. I don't know why, but she must have gone through some trauma after having lost us. Maybe she'll come back to her senses later on. For now, we have to do what we've been planning before any of us get's seriously hurt. Let's go, there are only ten tributes left in damn arena. Including us." Acacia says, and Minnow nods as they look at me.

"I've never heard you curse before, it sounds strange coming from you. But, Josie? For us to get moving, you'll need to get up." Minnow says with a knowing smile. But I don't move. I don't want to. I just want this to be over. After at least five minutes of this, Acacia resorts to pulling me up and dragging me along as Minnow leads the way.

I protest in whimpers, but Acacia's strong. We arrive at the beach in about ten minutes and Acacia sets me down as she takes a look at the arena before pointing at something not too far from where we are.

"There. We need to get there today so I can investigate more. Then we can eliminate the food supply in the water for everyone else." Acacia whispers proudly. Minnow nods and she begins to walk over to a specific area in front of the jungle before looking back at us. Acacia nods and grabs my left wrist in her right hand as she begins to drag me through the sand to Minnow.

I don't protest this time, letting her drag me along like a doll. Acacia doesn't have any problem in pulling me because I don't weigh much and she has some muscle. When we reach Minnow, she raises her eyebrows.

"Okay, I'm sorry about whatever happened, but you have to suck it up and work with us if you want to live. We can't keep dragging you along, what happened to the fighter we knew just a day ago? The one determined to win these Games?" Minnow says, exasperated. I eye her as I would an enemy and somehow find the strength to stand on my own.

I walk over to her, and before I know what I'm doing, I slap her across her face before falling on my knees in the sand. Acacia bolts from her spot to Minnow who's clutching her left cheek.

"Minnow, calm down. You didn't need to say that, you don't know what she went through when we lost her. We were the ones who left her behind in the first place. This is partly our fault. Now let's go to the tree." Acacia says curtly. Minnow's eyes soften and she nods in shame.

I don't realize I'm crying until Acacia wipes my tears and gives me a sympathetic smile before grabbing my wrist and pulling me along again. I realize I'm tired then, and without a second thought, I doze off.

 **x**

I wake up propped against a tree as Minnow is drinking water and Acacia is eating. Acacia offers me some tree nuts and I take them with a nod in thanks. They taste sweet and I drink some water after Minnow.

"We can carry out our plan tomorrow. Tonight if necessary, but we seem well enough to be able to hold out until tomorrow." Acacia says. Minnow has a knowing smile on her face as she nods. I wonder what they're up to?

"We're going to eliminate everything in the water as a food source for all of the remaining tributes. Easier for us to pick 'em off when they're starving." Acacia says, as if reading my thoughts. I only nod.

Acacia seems to inspect a tree and she rips a strip of bark off of it before throwing it into the jungle. Only it's not the jungle because I hear a sharp _zap!_ before it flys back to Acacia's feet, changing color for only a second before going back to it's original appearance.

"Just as I suspected." Acacia says with a smirk. She then looks up into the trees and nods. I'm confused but go back to eating the tree nuts she gave me.

 **x**

It's quiet and calm, we're all doing something different to keep busy. Acacia practices with her bow and arrows as Minnow practices aiming with her spear. I just stay in my same position, unmoving from the tree. I decide to inspect my knives and daggers so I don't just sit here and do nothing.

I hear a squeak from Minnow and turn to find a knife in her arm. I am immediately alert, grabbing two knives. I see her attacker in a tree and am about to throw my knives when an arrow pierces the top of their head and they fall out of the tree, just as their cannon sounds.

"Sorry, Josie. I knew you could do it, but I just wasn't sure because of your state." Acacia apologizes. I just shake my head in response. I would've doubted myself too if I were her.

Acacia walks over to Minnow to inspect her wound. Minnow's crying. Something I haven't seen her do in the arena, she didn't even cry during pre-arena events. And she's only ten, Minnow's a strong girl.

"I think it hit my tracker. It hurts, really bad." Minnow says through gritted teeth as silent tears run down her cheeks. Not five minutes after she says this, a parachute comes down. Acacia nods for me to retrieve it, and I do.

I'm confused at one of the two things I find inside, wire. I take it out and inspect it in my hands. _Why would they send us wire?_ I hear Acacia gasp and she runs over to me.

"Wrap up Minnow's arm up, I'll handle this." Acacia says in a rush, pushing me towards Minnow. I listen and crawl over to Minnow, putting some moss on her arm and securing it with some vine.

"There are only nine of us left, maybe it'd be better if we carried out our plan today. I'll wrap part of the wire around the tree before Josie and I go drop off the coil. You can handle yourself, right Minnow?" Acacia asks. Minnow laughs and nods.

"That's what I thought, now let's eat this bread that they sent us." Acacia says. She splits the loaf in three equal parts with one of my knives and we all eat our piece with tree nuts and water. Once we're all done Acacia stands and extends her hand out to me.

"Give me your bag. I think Minnow will need it more than you. I'll take one of your knives with me just in case." She explains. I groan before picking a knife and handing both over to her. She gives the bag to Minnow before she turns to me and I hold out my wrist.

Acacia smiles and grabs it before walking towards the beach. Knife in one hand, my left wrist in another.

We're about ten minutes away from Minnow when it hapens. Acacia swiftly turns around, pins me to the ground and sits on my abdomen.

"Don't even try to fight back or I'll kill you in a second." Acacia snarls. I don't know why she even warned me. I wouldn't have even tried. I just give her a puzzled look before she jabs my knife into my left forearm and I screech in pain. She digs it into my arm and I cry out louder _. What is she doing?_

"I'll let Minnow finish you off." She says with a smirk, but there's a pained look in her eyes which only makes me confused. _Why would she feel bad about killing me? It was bound to happen for her to survive._

"Not such a fiery little Capitol darling, are you now? I bet tons of people are crying over you right this moment. Poor little Josie is about to be slaughtered. The hundreds of people who bet on you are sure to be dissapointed because you went down without a fight. And only to be killed by a little ten year old." She muses.

It seems to take us a shorter time to get back to Minnow than it did to walk away. Minnow seems to be waiting for us and she gasps at the sight of us, but it's soon replaced with a smirk.

"Just in time. It's almost midnight. These stupid insects are killing my ear drums. Let's get this over with now." Minnow says. But one look into her eyes tells me she isn't exhausted, but worried.

Just then, we hear storm clouds approaching and Acacia gasps, running towards Minnow and pinning her against a tree.

"No, no, no, we're running out of time. Don't scream." Acacia whispers to Minnow before ripping off the makeshift bandage and stabbing her arm with the knife in the same spot I just patched up. Minnow squeals and covers her mouth with a hand. "Sorry." Acacia says.

Then, clouds start circling the tree and Acacia springs into action, grabbing the wire and wrapping it around an arrow, getting ready to fire it. I look over and see Minnow sitting against a tree, trying to staunch the blood flow from her arm.

Judging by the sound of the storm clouds, it won't be too long before the lightning will begin to strike. Acacia is frantically searching the area behind the tree, aiming her arrow. I know that she finds what she's looking for when her eyes light up and she sets her arrow on a point in the distance.

"Acacia, hurry! I'm bleeding out!" Minnow whispers. Acacia shoots her a glare before the sky starts making a weird noise and she turns back to it, ready to shoot. Then all hell breaks loose.

I don't even clearly remember what happened, it's like it happens in a blur. Acacia shoots her arrow at the same time the lightning strikes, she flies, Minnow gets slammed against a tree, and I take cover behind one.

I'm in a daze, and then I see a claw drop down, retrieving Acacia. I can tell by her chest's slight rising and falling that she's still alive. And I want so bad to scream and say they're making a mistake, that she's still alive. But my voice won't allow it. I decide to at least try to pull her away, but Minnow catches me.

"No. Don't. It's help. They're-" She cuts off, struggling to breath. "They're not the Capitol. Don't resist. They're here to rescue us from the arena. I'm so sorry for not telling you." Minnow whispers before losing consciousness. I scream in terror. The claw is lifting slowly and I have the crazy mind to carry Minnow and place her in the claw with Acacia. _Now they'll both be safe_ , I think to myself. But then a thought comes to mind.

 _What about the other tributes_? I begin to panic and run into the jungle. The Capitol doesn't care about us, we're not well-known Victors, they'd kill us in a heartbeat, I need to save them.

I'm in a frenzy, running as fast as I can to get to other tributes.

I don't know how long I'd been running, but I'm gasping for breath when I run into a tribute. She's on the floor, unresponsive. I walk up to her and put two fingers to her throat.

She's alive. I try to wake her up, but she won't move. As I'm shaking her arms, trying to get her to wake up, I feel a vibration. It's coming from her left forearm. I'm so busy puzzling over it, that I don't realize when the claw drops down. I panic at first, but then I remember that it's help.

I force my breathing to even out, but I'm starting to loose consciousness as well, I didn't even bother to try and patch up my arm. My blood's coming down in a little waterfall, coating my entire arm.

But I don't realize how wrong my assumption of the hovercraft was until I reach the inside. There are people running around and a couple of tributes unconcious on the ground. One specific person stops when they see me. He stares me down before turning to another.

"Looks like they forgot a tribute." He says with a chuckle. I'm confused, but then he walks over to me and injects something in my neck, and it doesn't take too long before the drugs take me under ...

* * *

 _ **I bet you guys weren't expecting that, haha! So, do you guys think she's in a Capitol or rebel hovercraft? I think it's easy to tell after what just happened. Anywho! It was a joy writing this chapter and I hope you guys follow, favorite, and/or review!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Trigger Warning:** Mentions of sex, sexual abuse/sexual violence, and torture.

 **Katniss' POV**

It was a lot of information to take in. I'd been calm all throughout the entire speech until I asked about Peeta. I'd attacked Haymitch, and he left the room with a bloody face.

They left Peeta in the Capitol.

He wasn't the only one though, Johanna had went back for him, but when they realized we didn't have enough time, they said they were 'forced' to leave without them. Many other mentors were taken too, but they were the only one's I cared about.

I hadn't even thought about the tributes until I saw Josie's allies in all their glory. I was mad at first, infuriated at how they treated Josie during the final moments of the arena. But I remembered that Haymitch told me they were in on the rebel plan. Why they trusted a 10 year old is beyond me, but when I found out that they didn't manage to break out Josie, my heart broke.

They told me that since the remaining tributes meant nothing to the Capitol, they would have probably been executed within minutes. Although they doubt that the Victor's who were captured would be executed.

I've been in a mental ward since I arrived here in District 13.

The only good information I've gotten since I arrived is that Prim and my mother were alive. But then again, they haven't really told me much in fear that I would break down and refuse to be their 'Mockingjay'.

Everyone's told me that it would be for the best if I agreed. But I don't want to trust them after what they did to Peeta. They knew what was going to happen, yet they refused to trust Peeta and I with that piece of information. They let him walk away without saying a word.

It's been a month since the day they broke two of the tributes from the arena. And my life's changed greatly since then. I can only hope that they carry out their plan to rescue the Victor's soon. Because they know very well that I won't cooperate without Peeta. And I plan on refusing to cooperate until they rescue Peeta.

* * *

 **Josie's POV**

It's been a month since I began giving false information to the Capitol, in hopes that it would lessen the torture that Peeta Mellark and Johanna Mason would go through. President Snow proposed me a deal when I had falsely told him that Haymitch Abernathy had entrusted me with secrets of the rebellion because he thought I'd die in the arena.

Sadly, I have to watch their torture go down. It pains me to see what the Capitol does to them, but President Snow promises it could be much worse if I didn't tell them my secrets. I hope that he isn't lying.

Peeta and I are set to do interviews today. President Snow wouldn't tell me what Peeta's interview was supposed to do but he made it clear what my job was. I was supposed to try to fool the Districts that I had been the sole Victor of the third Quarter Quell. And my interview was set to go first.

President Snow had 'the best' prep team and stylist fix me up for my interview. Even though I was 'aiding' the Capitol with secret rebel information, I've still had my fair share of torturing.

It's amazing how they manage to make all my scars, bruises, and wounds dissapear with just 5 pounds of makeup. They're truly talented. I was set to wear a soft yellow dress with gold colored heels, and real gold jewelry. I was amazed at the jewelry they had set out for me to choose. I'd grown up watching my mother make jewelry all the time in District 12.

They made my hair wavy and put a gold colored headband on top. After I got President Snow's 'kiss of approval' they brought me out to the stage. I soon recognize it as the same place I was interviewed before my Games.

I take my seat on a tan velvet chair opposite Caesar. He doesn't appear to be as easy going like he usual is. There's an actual audience which stuns me, isn't there a war raging on? A war I'm supposed to help subdue with this crazy act?

President Snow stands off in the sidelines on Caesar's side of the stage, watching me, judging my performance. As soon as the camera's are all set, some men count down from five before Caesar Flickerman begins his fake cheery speach.

"Hello Panem! I'm sure you've all been wondering what all the comotion has been about this past month? Well, I've got the details right here. Are you all excited?" Caesar yells into the crowd. Their response is immediate with loud cheers.

"And now, our Victor of the 75th Hunger Games, _Josie Zaid_." He says ominously. I gulp before the camera now includes me in the frame and I flash a big smile.

"Josie. How's life been after winning the Games?" Caesar asks 'proudly'. I giggle and fake a blush.

"It's been amazing. The Capitol's been helping me recover nicely, and everyone's been treating me so well. I hope I haven't been too missed!" I say to the audience, and they all cheer.

"They've missed you so much, Josie! Now tell them what went wrong, sadly, no one was able to view you glorious victory as you little 'ally' destroyed the arena. Tell us now, how did you win?" Caesar asks 'intrigued'.

"Well, Caesar. It all happened by in a blur. Acacia suffered a shock so bad, it killed her on the spot. And Minnow, she was too weak from the loss of blood to fight back, it only took one swipe of my knife across her neck to finish her off. As for the other tributes, they didn't put up much of a fight, I mean, they stood no chance against me. I killed them off easily." I tell. The audience begs for more and I laugh again.

"Oh Josie, stop being so vague! Details my dear, details!" Caesar says in false agony. I giggle before sighing. "We all want to know how you won, right everyone?" Caesar asks the crowd, they cheer loudly and I flinch. _Goodness, these people are crazy_.

"Okay, okay. So my final battle, it was between me and the boy from District 4. I was wandering around the arena with my bag of knives when I felt someone pull me to the ground. I looked up to find the boy. He had a trident and was just about to pierce my chest when I kicked him in the face. Of course, you've all seen how flexible I am. It didn't take much to evade all of his tridents and spears once I got back on my feet. But he wasn't so quick to evade my perfect aim. And it didn't take long before I put a knife to his head." I say with a smirk. The crowd cheers and I smile.

"And that's how we got our lovely Victor. Now, I think I've taken up enough of your time, Josie. We'll be seeing you again soon. Now please, help us introduce our next guest!" Caesar chimes. I smile and nod as nearly everyone in the crowd gives me a standing ovation.

"Of course! It was my pleasure, Caesar. Thank you so much for the interview. And now, in just 5 minutes you'll be seeing the man who made my victory possible." I lead. The crowd begins to ask who and I laugh. "Get ready for Peeta Mellark!" I yell in excitement. The crowd cheers loudly.

Caesar gives me a hug before I walk off stage, waving and blowing kisses before I dissapear behind the curtains. I don't see anyone around and am confused when I feel a hand wrap around my shoulder and squeeze me in a hug.

"Great job, my dear. They love you. But I'm afraid that your interview was a little ... blunt for my taste. Almost perfect. Almost. But not good enough. Ready for some fun? I have some _adoring_ fans who'd _love_ to get to know you better. The Capitol's always loved you Josie. From the moment you first debuted. Now let's get you ready for your first meeting." President Snow whispers to me. My breath catches in my throat, but I don't dare react.

He leads me into a room. Inside, I find provocative clothes laid out on the bed. And two tables on either side of the room lined with many ... 'toys'. I swallow hard before Preisdent Snow tells me to sit on the bed, I do as I'm told.

"Now Josie, you're so popular with the buyers. I sold you to the highest bidder, everyone wanted your innocence. I made even more money with your innocence than I did with Finnick Odair! And you know how much of a charmer he is. Well, the man's name is DevEen. He's one of the wealthiest men in the Capitol and personally requested what you are to wear. Try it on now, I want to see if your body is good enough." President Snow says casually, as if he's not selling my body, but merely trading a hat for a scarf.

I don't object, I'm not weak and don't need anymore trouble for Peeta and Johanna. I turn around from where I'm sitting and fine threads. Not even worthy of being called 'clothing'. It's just a dark blue bra with sheer fabric that 'covers' my stomach, and matching velvet underwear. I shiver, I have to change in front of this disgusting man.

As if in a hurry, I quickly strip off my clothes and dress in what little clothing President Snow has given me. A disgusting smile claims his face as soon as I'm done changing. He gathers what I wore in my interview and takes a seat in a chair beside the door.

"You already have slightly large breasts, this special garment makes them apear larger. I think DevEen will like it. He _did_ pick it out after all. I'm sure he'll be pleased at your appearance. I hope he's as pleased with your performance as he is with your looks. Now remove all of the jewelry and headband." President Snow says with a smile.

I do as I'm told and place the jewelry and headband into his lap. His smile widens as he takes me in closer, I fight back a scowl and decide to smile back. I don't need any more torture, this is the worst possible punishment imaginable. I sit back down on the bed and take a deep breath.

"But ... I'm not experienced at all. I can't help how my ... performance will be. I mean, I haven't even kissed anyone." I say calmly. President Snow grins and shakes his head.

"You'll figure it out, darling. Obey every order he gives you. I'm sure you'll get the hang of this by tomorrow. I don't think you want to know what happens if you don't." He threatens. I fake a laugh even though I'm dying inside.

"That's all I need to know. You don't have to worry about a thing now." I assure him. President Snow smiles a devious smile, laying down my clothes before he walks up to me, taking my hands in his.

"I'd hope not. You're a lovely girl, Josie. I'd take a turn myself if it weren't for all these customers lined up to have a few hours with you. Make me proud, I'll be waiting to hear how you did. Now your prep team will be here soon. He'll be here in an hour." President Snow says before kissing my cheek, retrieving my clothes, and walking out of my room. I shiver and wait for my prep team.

They arrive soon after President Snow leaves and take out their many tools before sitting me infront of a vanity and beginning my transformation.

"There, Jo. Now you look at least 16. You're hot, sexy, and ready for some fun. I'll see if President Snow is willing to give you some touch ups on your appearance and body before the end of the week. Make you more desirable than you already are. Have fun, he'll be here in 5 minutes." The main man says before kissing me full on the lips, rubbing his hand against my chest, and leaving with the rest of the team.

I spit as soon as they're out and wipe my mouth. Disgusting. I wish I could take a shower and forget this ever happened. I look at myself in the mirror and am immediately stunned at what I see. The gorgeous _woman_ in the mirror can't possibly be me? I hear the door open and turn around to find a peculiar looking man. He smiles as soon as he lays eyes on me.

"Hello my sweet, Josie. Are you ready to have some fun? You're even more beautiful in person. Come on, sit on the bed for me. I only have three hours." The man, who I assume is DevEen purrs. I flash a smile and sit on the bed.

 _Only_ three hours? I want to yell at him. _Please let this be over soon._

* * *

 **Katniss' POV**

I've just found out that Peeta and Josie are alive. Why they decided to keep Josie is a mystery to me before they explain that she's being used as a distraction. Entertainment for the Capitol. Peeta's just called for a cease-fire, and District 13 is furious. So furious that they didn't even pay attention to what Caesar had said after Peeta was dissmissed.

That Josie was officially a sex slave to the Capitol and that they could begin buying her as soon as they pleased, highest bidders go first. I shrieked in horror at the information, but the horror soon turned into fury at the sound of people cheering in the audience.

I had walked out of there without a word.

Overjoyed that Peeta is alive and seemingly unharmed, but furious that a poor 14 year old girl is being used like that. What disgusting person would pay to abuse a girl.

I'm stopped in the hallway and am about to attack when I see that it's the two girls Josie was allies with, and there are tears streaming down their faces.

"I'm so sorry, Katniss. I'm sorry that they took your soon-to-be husband, and I'm sorry for leaving Josie behind. I was paralyzed from the lightning, otherwise I wouldn't have let her leave. And Minnow here was too weak from the amount of blood she'd lost. We're thankful that Josie had the heart to have her sent up with me or I'd be alone in this place." The older girl says. I force a smile and shake my head.

"It's not your fault girls, you were just doing what you'd been told. You really don't have to apologize." I tell them, but the younger one shakes her head.

"It's our fault, we heard Peeta went to go get you something for your head because you were so horrified at what we'd done to her. He wouldn't be gone if it weren't for us." The younger one says in anger. Tears are running down my cheeks at her confession, that was what Peeta had gone to do. But it just wasn't the right time.

"I'm Acacia, and this is Minnow. I'm from District 7, and she's from District 4. I hope we can become acquantances during our time here in District 13. Surely you being a strong woman can lead us into victory. You'll be an amazing leader in taking down the Capitol. The sooner you begin leading, the sooner we will have the people we care about with us. You are taking on the role of the Mockingjay, right?" The older one, Acacia, says. It takes me a while to process her words. It's hard to believe she's the same age as me, she seems so much older.

But what she's said is true. The sooner I take on the role, the sooner I get Peeta back. And in that moment, I know just what I'm going to do.

"Right." I conclude.

* * *

 _ **I hope none of you were too bothered with the mention of what Josie has to endure, but I thought that form of torture is what suited her best, with no one to threaten her with since everyone she cares about died in the flames after District 12 was bombed. (Yes, that still happened.)**_

 _ **I hope you guys take the time to also read my other stories as well while I update this one. Until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Trigger Warning** : Mentions of sexual abuse and torture.

 **Josie's POV **

I don't know how long I've been here anymore. Has it been a year already? Proably not, but it might as well have been. I feel like I've gone through hundreds of 'clients' already. President Snow says I have to make up for his 'usuals'.

He told me that everyone I cared about was dead, that he'd made sure of it. But I make sure to never give him the responses he's looking for. I'm not weak, I don't give him the oppurtunity to see me break. I didn't even flinch when he told me that everyone I cared about was dead. I haven't shown a single bit of emotion to Snow while I've been in the Capitol, and I know that makes him angry.

Today, my third visitor has already left, so I have nothing to do. Between my appointments, and after my last visitor, I'm always dragged to my holding cell. I always wonder how I don't freeze to death in the little threads I'm forced to wear. My holding cell is always frezing cold, and I bet President Snow does it on purpose.

Luckily, I'm still being fed. Not as many times with rich food like before my Games, but _just_ enough to keep my stomach from rumbling, _just_ enough to keep my bones from protruding. They don't whip me, or electrocute me, or whatever else Peeta, Johanna, and the other mystery woman have to go through. Well not anymore at least, because those battle scars and bruises would make me unappealing to the clients.

President Snow always reminds me that he could torture and starve me. Saying that I should be _grateful_ for the punishment I have, because they're the only thing keeping me from 'truly suffering' like 'others I know'.

But I don't know what he means by that. I'd rather go through what the other three are going through than what President Snow is making me do. I don't know how he can look and talk to me as if I'm _not_ a fourteen year old girl who he's taking advantage of.

Apart from my three daily tortures, I have to hear the screams of Peeta, Johanna, and the mystery woman when I'm in my cell. Sometimes I cry for them, other times I scream my lungs out, but most of the time I'm yelling to anyone who can hear me, willing them to stop hurting Peeta, Johanna, and the mystery woman. Begging them to inflict their torture on me, because I'm just a worthless little tribute. They're well-known Victors.

Sure, the Capitol's residents _think_ I'm the sole Victor of the 75th Hunger Games, but really, I'm _what's left_ of it. Snow hasn't made me do an interview apart from the first one I gave, however long ago that was. He told me after about a week had passed by that it would be a waste of time, a distraction from my true 'job'.

Right now, I'm in my cell, listening to the screams of the mystery woman. Tears were running down my cheeks, I couldn't bear listening to this poor girl scream. I put my hands over my ears, trying to block out her screams. But of course, it doesn't work. After about ten minutes of this, I take my hands off of my ears and stand up.

"Stop! Let her go! Hurt me instead! Just.." I fumble, not knowing what to say. "Just stop hurting her! Please." I say, my voice sounds broken. The girl stops screaming, and I wipe the tears off my cheeks. Were they finally going to listen to me? After weeks of begging, they choose _now_ to finally listen? Sure enough, I hear footsteps coming towards my cell and I brace myself for what's to come.

Four Peacekeepers enter my cell, the first one smirking, the rest stone-faced. I stand up straighter and glare at them. That just causes the first one's smirk to grow wider.

"You sure you want to take her torture, honey?" The first Peacekeeper says. I fold my arms across my chest and take a step closer to him.

"I'd take her torture any day. I'll take Peeta Mellark and Johanna Mason's as well. Hell, I'd take their torture's for the next month. Or until they starve to death or something, I'm sure you're not feeding them, right? You can even split my meals and give it to them, I don't care." I say. The Peacekeeper raises his eyebrows and laughs bitterly.

"You won't last five minutes. You'll be begging us to stop as soon as it begins. Are you still sure you want to take their torture, honey?" The Peacekeeper says. I walk closer, until I'm standing right in front of him.

"Positive." I whisper into his face. The man laughs his disgusting bitter laugh again and shakes his head.

"Whatever you want. I don't care if President Snow yells at me, you brought this on yourself. Soon enough you're going to be wishing you were dead." The man says before he raises his whip and hits me hard across the face.

I fall to the ground, shrieking in pain. The man chuckles and says something along the lines of, 'I told you, hon.' but the pain in my left cheek is too much to bear. I hear the mystery woman begin to yell for them to stop.

"Still want to take on their punishments?" The man asks, whip raised and ready to strike again. I stand up and nod. "Very well." The man says before turning to the other three Peacekeepers. "Let's show her what her poor mentor and other Victors' have been going through." The man yells. I take in a sharp breath before they all pounce on me.

The four men whipping, kicking, and punching me. My screams are the only things I hear apart from the mystery woman, who's pleading for them to stop. I somehow find the courage to respond to the woman.

"No!" I yell, a scream cutting me off. "I'm taking your torture for you!" I manage between screams. "Just be thankful and shut up!" I yell to the woman. She doesn't continue yelling after that, but I might have not been able to anyway because one of the Peacekeepers hits me with the whip on my mouth and they had swollen up and begun to bleed.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, the men stopped. But only because my food had arrived.

"You guys are dissmissed. I have to go deliver this _wonderful_ meal to the others. Since she doesn't want it. But then again she probably wouldn't have been able to eat anyway." The Peacekeeper who I'd spoken to earlier says with a laugh before leaving with the other three.

I just drag myself to my bed and lay down, broken and defeated. I just want to sleep and forget about the pain, but just as my eyelids begin to grow heavy, I hear a slightly familiar voice call out to me.

"What?" I yell back.

"Are you Josie? Katniss and Peeta's female tribute?" The woman asks. I can't place a name to her, but I know I've heard it somewhere before. And not knowing who she is irks me. She obviously recognizes me.

"Yes? I am. Who are you? Do you know how long we've been here for?" I ask the woman. I doubt she knows, having endured worse than me here in the Capitol.

"I'm Johanna Mason, from District 7. But no, I don't know how long we've been here for. I just wanted to thank you for saving Annie. I couldn't bear to watch her torture anymore. And thanks for your food as well, you really didn't have to take our torture. We're older. We can last longer." She says. Johanna Mason. Of course, I'd known she was here. I guess the Peacekeepers hit my head or something because I should've easily pieced that together.

"It's fine. I don't care. I've been going through worse. Is anyone else here besides you, Peeta, and Annie?" I ask Johanna.

"Not that I know of. I hadn't even known you were there, I thought it was me pleading for them to end my torture. But I guess that's been you the whole time." Johanna says, her voice weak with a hint of admiration.

I'm about to respond back when we hear a large crash and many footsteps enter the room. I begin to panic, thinking it's more Peacekeepers. But the flashing lights tell me it's not. Who else would it be? I hear hissing noises, as well as many cell doors opening and closing. I hear Annie scream once, followed by Johanna's. But they both abruptly stop, and my fear increases.

Then there's something being thrown in my room I stare at it, curious as to what it is. Then a weird mist begins to spill out of it, making a weird hissing noise. I back away from it as far as I can before raising what little clothing I can above my nose.

I hear someone enter my cell, but he doesn't look like a Peacekeeper, he looks confused at the sight of me, but then he reaches his arms out to me. I'm cautious at first, but then I hear his muffled voice say that he's here to rescue me. My lungs are screaming for air that I'm unwilling to breath in because of the weird mist, so I run into his arms.

The man lifts me up and carries me out of the room, rushing me out into the halls. I bury my face in his chest, hoping to block my nose from any of the mist, he has a gas mask on, the air may be bad to breath in, so I just breath in the sent of this man who's saving me.

Soon, I hear us enter a room with many voices. I'm scared that it's Peacekeepers trying to hurt us, so I wrap my arms tightly around the man. He whispers to me that everything is going to be alright, and that we are in the rebels care now. He asks me to come out so the doctors can inspect me. I whimper, but comply. The man doesn't look one bit familiar, but he sits me down on a bed and I look around.

The place is unfamiliar to me, but when I see the man go to leave, I scream. He turns back, confused at my sudden outburst, but I jump off of the bed and run to him, pulling his arm back.

"Please don't leave, you're the only person I trust right now." I plead. The man seems to contemplate this, and gives me a sympathetic smile before he nods. I go back and sit down on the bed, waiting for someone to check me.

Soon, a woman comes in and begins to do various procedures. She seems very confused as she looks over my wounds. Cleaning, stitching and bandaging them.

"I got my first round of torture in a long time today. I hadn't been hurt like this in a long time." I told the doctor, she had been looking at the color of my bruises. Her eyes are sympathetic, but I can tell she's still confused.

"How long have I been in the Capitol?" I ask the woman. She looks me over for a long time before responding.

"Two months. I'm surprised you and the others aren't in worse condition. Everyone thought _you_ were dead." The woman says. I sigh and shake my head, two months? That's not possible. It felt like I was there longer than two months. But then again, I had to go through three people a day, it must've been easy to loose track of time.

"You should rest. I can't believe you're still talking with that busted lip, but I suppose you've always been talkative. I saw your interview in District 13. Quite the charmer you were." The woman says with a chuckle. But I look at her in disbelief.

"District 13? Ma'am, you must be mistaken. There is no District 13." I tell her, shaking my head. But the woman just chuckles again.

"That's a lie the Capitol's told you, dear. I was born and raised in Disrict 13, and we're almost there. Dalton will wake you up when we get there." The doctor says, gesturing to the man who rescued me. I nod my head and lay down on the slightly uncomfortable bed.

"I'm from District 10, I came to District 13 on foot a couple years back. It's nothing too special, but it's a lot better than being in District 10 where the Capitol had full control of me. You're from District 12, right?" The man, Dalton, asks. I only nod in reply. He starts up a conversation after that about his home, asking me questions about District 12 as well. I decide I like him.

 **x**

A man walks in at least 30 minutes later, smiling.

"We're back in 13, let's go." He says with a grin before rushing out of the room. I sigh and get up off the bed. My legs are weak though, and they move like jelly as I try to walk out in the direction the man did. Dalton soon sees me struggle and carries me out.

When we arrive, they take us to some underground place and rush us into what looks like a hospital. Doctors and nurses surround two other people more than they do me and another woman. But soon, people come to my aid as well, putting me in a hospital bed. But then I hear a very familiar voice, and turn my head. Katniss?

"Josie! Oh my goodness, they told me you were dead!" She yells across the room before rushing over to me and giving me a hug. I wince at the tight embrace, but hug her back too.

"No, I'm alive and mostly well." I tell her before pulling away with a smile. She shakes her head and looks me over before a look of disgust falls on her face.

"We need to get some real clothes on you, what are you wearing? You must be freezing." She says. I chuckle and cross my arms over my chest. But before I can respond, Haymitch comes over and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"You're still alive?" Haymitch jokes when he realizes it's me, I give him a scowl and he chuckles. "Way too much time with you, Katniss. Anyway, he's over there." Haymitch says, Katniss' face takes on an entirely new look, desperation? No, that's the look my father gave... my mother. I think as tears begin to well up in my eyes.

As soon as Katniss and Haymitch leave, doctors come and take me away into a room. They begin to check me over again, and put me in a hospital gown. _Because that's so much better than what I was wearing before_ , I think to myself.

I hear a bunch of noise out of my room and my doctors rush out, only one nurse stays and I'm tempted to get out and see what was wrong.

"Stay calm, dear. Don't worry about it." The nurse says calmly. I nod, but her words don't make me feel better. "You get to go live in your own living compartment tomorrow. Your injury's will be hidden with our clothes, and they should heal quickly. Your lip might be swollen for a couple more days, but it might take a little longer to heal. The whipping mark on your face should heal in at least a week as well. You'll be good in no time." The nurse assures me. I nod, but I still feel restless, wanting to know what was happining outside.

The nurse gets a guilty expression on her face as she goes over to some cabinets and pulls out a vial before getting a needle and filling it with the liquid it holds. She then cautiously walks over to me, and before I know what she's doing, she's injecting the needle into my neck. It doesn't take long after that before darkness pulls me under...

* * *

 _ **This chapter was fun to write in Josie's POV, I hope you all enjoyed it! An update should be coming soon, until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

I wake up to my right arm in a sling. I'm confused, it wasn't like that before was it? I look around and see that I'm in the hospital. I bolt up and look around for someone to explain to me what happened. When I see no one, I get up and decide to investigate on my own.

Quietly, I leave my room and make my way over to the panel on a wall that displays patients and their current conditions. I flip through many until I surprisingly find myself, it says I have a broken arm and I will be released in one day. I broke my arm? How...

I continue flipping through the panel and stop when I reach Johanna Mason. Johanna? That means they're back! I'm overjoyed until I read that she's in critical condition, being treated for electric shock amongst many other things. I gasp and quickly flip away, but stop when I see his picture.

And it all comes back to me. I went to visit Peeta, he looked confused for the first minute or so, but then he suddenly lashed out at me. He had pinned me against a wall with my right arm behind my back, calling me a mutt. I was shrieking, telling him to stop. That must've been how I broke my arm... The weirdest part was that after about only a minute of pinning me against the wall, he stopped and backed away. Pleading for my forgiveness. Doctors had already rushed in though, and they knocked him out.

They had to eventually sedate me as well because I was sobbing, confused as to why he did that. But I was also yelling at them for knocking him out. It's like he snapped, one minute he was saying foul things to me, and the next he was telling me he was sorry.

Tears begin to pool in my eyes, what had they done to him? I decide to continue flipping through the panel for any more recognizable faces, and eventually stop when I land on Josie. She's being released later today, she was treated for whip lashes as well as a couple other things. My tears begin to fall, how could they have done that to a little girl?

Her last name starts with a Z, so I recognize no one after her until the list goes back to A. I wonder if Annie is beaing treated for anything, so I flip through A and B until I reach Annie Cresta in the C's. She's being treated for the same things Josie is, but she has to stay in the hospital longer for some reason. I walk away from the panel after that and go back to my room. It's early, almost dawn. I guess most of the doctors are in their living compartments because someone would've caught me by now. I quickly make my way back to my room and go inside, shutting the door as quietly as I can.

I jump at the sound of her voice. "Katniss? You're back! But you're not supposed to be leaving your hospital room, where were you?" Prim asks. I sigh when I realize it's only her before sitting on my bed again.

"I'm sorry, I went to look for someone to ask about my arm. But I found the Patients' Panel first..." I trail off, wiping the tears from my face. Prim gives me a worried look before coming over to hug me.

"I'm so sorry, Katniss. They think something's wrong with him, that the Capitol may have tried to alter his mind. The good thing is that they didn't get very far, but they did cause enough damage to cause him to go... crazy at times." Prim explains. Tears begin to burn in my eyes again.

"So that's why he attacked me? How did the Capitol do that?" I ask quietly, my voice sounds defeated.

"Beetee's working on it, he thinks he may have known how, but they didn't want to tell me too much. You know Peeta would never intentionally hurt you, Katniss." Prim soothes. I just shake my head, I want to go to sleep and pretend this never happened. I want to wake up with my arm healed and Peeta back to normal, but I know nothing could ever be that easy.

"Could you... um, sedate me? I know it's a ridiculous request, but I just don't want to be awake right now. I want to sleep and forget about this." I ask her quietly. Prim hesitates, but I know she's sees in my eyes how bad I want this. With a sigh, she goes over and collects a liquid from a vial into a needle. And just like that, I'm out in less than ten seconds...

* * *

I awaken with a scream, panting with sweat pouring down my face. Many nurses rush into my room, wondering what's wrong. I wave them off though, they can't do anything to help my nightmares. Only Peeta can, but he's obviously not an option at the moment.

One nurse stays though. "Katniss, it's good your awake! I have someone who'd like to visit you. Do you know someone by the name of Josie?" She asks patiently. I nod and she gives me a bright smile. "I'll call her down then. She should be here soon." The nurse tells me before leaving. I sit up and wait for Josie to arrive.

Soon, I hear a knock that takes me out of a daze. Josie closes the door before sitting down on the guests' chair beside my bed. She takes my right hand in hers carefully.

"Hi, Katniss." She says softly. I give her a smile and smooth my left hand over her hair.

"Hey Josie. I'm sorry we left you in the arena. I really am, if I'd have known, I would have never let them leave without you. Even if that caused the Capitol to capture us as well. I know what they did to you Josie, and I promise you that I'll kill Snow myself when I get the oppurtunity." I say. Josie smiles and shakes her head.

"You can't change the past, Katniss. I'm sorry about what happened to you as well, I tried. I tried so hard to lessen Peeta, Johanna, and Annie's torture. I even offered to extend the number of visitors I had a day, but Snow said that I couldn't take the full blow." Josie says, her voice breaking off in the end. "He promised me that they weren't getting as bad a torture than they should have been though, because of what I was doing. So I guess it was worth it, that is if he kept his promise..." Josie trails off. I shake my head and wipe her tears away.

"Don't say that Josie, I think Snow _did_ live up to his promise. My sister told me that Peeta's condition could have been much worse. And now I guess I only have you to thank for, Josie." I say. She smiles a little at my words and I smile at her as well.

"That's good. I heard about that, I'm sorry. I never saw or heard him in the Capitol. It... it was always Johanna and Annie who I heard." Josie says softly. I rub her back soothingly, I'm usually not like this, but this little girl softens me. She's so selfless, offering herself to more men so Snow wouldn't hurt Johanna, Peeta, and Annie.

"You're so brave, Josie. I don't think I could have handled that at 14." I tell her. She shakes her head and more tears slip down her cheeks.

"I had nothing to live for besides trying to keep the others from more torture. Snow said he killed everyone I cared about." Josie whispers. My breath catches in my throat, does she know what Snow did to District 12?

"So, he told you about the bombing of District 12 after Acacia blew up the arena?" I ask quietly. Josie's head shoots up, shaking. I bite my lip, maybe not. She gets up from the chair and begins to back away slowly.

"They bombed District 12? Snow... he never told me that. He just... just told me that he'd made sure everyone I cared about was dead. I didn't know how, but I didn't question it then. But of course, he burned down the whole damn District to do it?" Josie whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear her. I try to speak again, but she runs out of the room without another word.

I slump down in my bed, defeated. I can't imagine how much that must've broken her heart, the poor girl was stripped of her family _and_ her innocence. _I should've just kept my mouth shut_ , I think as I cover my face with my hands.

* * *

I'm looking off into the distance, lost in a daze when Haymitch enters my room. He takes me out of my thoughts when he clears his throat, it startles me at first, but I calm down when I see it's just him.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." He says. I want to scowl, but the sincerity in his eyes causes all the anger to leave my body. I realize that I should've just stayed with the anger, because it's only replaced with an unbearable sadness that causes me to begin sobbing.

Haymitch reluctantly comes to me, giving me an awkward hug as he pats my back, telling me that everything will be okay. I don't know how long he stays there, holding me, but it's comforting to have my mentor try to calm me down. Eventually I do.

I sit up straight as he sits down in the seat that was claimed by Josie a few hours ago, and I prepare to ask him the question that's been roaming around in my mind since the time Josie left.

"What happened to Peeta? Well, specifically... what did they do to make him hate me?" I ask helplessly. My old mentor may not even know the answer, but I thought it was worth a try.

"It's complicated." He begins, looking at me to make sure I want to go on. I roll my eyes and scowl. He continues, "They used a rare method of torture called hijacking. Beetee explained it to me as a type of fear conditioning." He says, explaining to me what it means and how they used it against him. I'm sobbing by the end of his little explanation and Haymitch is holding me again.

"Hey, but as I told you before. It could have been way worse. Peeta still seems to have at least a little control over it, we suppose they weren't finished with him when we rescued him. It confuses us all because Beetee says two months is much more than enough time to complete the process of hijacking, but whatever his reason as for delaying it or something, we should be greatful for it." Haymitch reminds me, I remember Josie's promise to Snow and gasp.

"Josie! It was because of Josie! She told me earlier! She told me that she had made a deal with Snow. If she didn't refuse the prostitution, he would make Peeta and the others' torture less painful. He promised her he would take it slowly. Because of her, Peeta isn't fully gone!" I tell him frantically. Haymitch shushes me and tells me to calm down, but something clouds over his eyes at my words.

He doesn't speak for a while after I tell him about Josie's promise to Snow. I'm worried I've upset him, but just as I'm about to apologize, he speaks again.

"The girl's braver than I thought. Who knows how worse the conditions of Peeta, Annie, and Johanna would be if she hadn't done that. I'm surprised Snow even kept a promise to her, are you sure she told you everything?" Haymitch asks. I think back to our conversation, but don't remember her mentioning any other reason as to why President Snow would keep a promise to her.

"No. We could ask her about it later. Where's she living anyway? She told me everyone she cared about was dead, isn't she supposed to live with someone older than 16?" I ask Haymitch. A knowing smirk appears on his face and I furrow my eyebrows. "What?" I ask.

"You'll be moving in with her tomorrow. I still gotta drop the news to Johanna that she'll be moving in with her female tribute in the Quell. See you later, sweetheart." Haymitch says with a playful wink before exiting my room. I sit there a moment, trying to decipher what he means before it slaps me in the face.

I'm going to be living with Josie. I want to be mad about them taking me out of my living compartment that I share with Prim, my mother, and that lazy old cat Buttercup. But then a thought comes to mind that causes my heart to ache. _I might be the only person down here who she knows, the only person who she trusts._

I take a deep breath and decide it won't be bad. She needs someone who she trusts to live with. I doubt she still trusts Minnow and Acacia, even if they did what they did for the rebellion. I surely wouldn't be able to trust them for a while after. Now that I think about it, I wonder who _Minnow_ moved in with, she's only ten. Maybe she moved in with Acacia, she's my age. I shrug and begin to grow restless I hate having to sit on this bed and be useless. _I can't wait until I'm release tomorrow_.

* * *

 _ **I told you guys an update would be coming soon! I'm obsessed with writing for this story, haha! Well, I hope you guys check out my other stories while I update this one. Until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV **

Josie and I are assigned Compartment 2213, which is right across the hall from my mother and Prim. The people who lived there were kind enough to trade this room for another so I'd be more comfortable. Johanna will be living in Compartment 2215, which is right next door to mine. How fun. But Johanna won't move into her living compartment for a while because she still needs more time to recover.

I enter my living compartment and find Josie sitting on a couch. Prim had taken it upon herself to to bring my small amount of belongings over a day or two ago when she'd been told I' be living with Josie. She brightens a little at the sight of me.

"Hi, Katniss." She greets, making her way over to me. I wonder if she's still upset with me over what I'd told her about District 12, but she shows no signs of anger so I suppose she isn't.

"Hey. Where will my room be?" I ask her, she probably has everything sorted out. She points to a door near the corner of the room and grabs my hand, pulling me over to it.

"Right here. My room's on the opposite end over in that corner." Josie informs me, pointing to a door in the opposite end of the room. I nod and enter. "Prim got everything ready for you, she didn't want you to stress out over it or anything." Josie adds while I take in my room. I sit on my bed and Josie shifts on her feet, unsure whether to leave or stay.

"I'm sorry about what I said in the hospital yesterday. I thought someone as sinister as him would have told, I didn't mean to scare you." I apologize. Panic flickers in her eyes for a moment before she closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. Plastering a fake smile on her face afterwards.

"There's no way you could have known, and the way I said things, it made it sound like I _did_ know about it. Don't blame yourself. Snow probably thought I wouldn't cooperate if I found out he'd bombed my District." Josie says in a fake cheery voice. I shake my head, this girl's a born performer. Too bad I can see right past it.

"Yes, that's probably why he didn't tell you. But I said it as if it was nothing, carelessly saying it without warning. I'm your mentor, I'm supposed to _protect_ you from things that could harm you. Thankfully, now that we're in a safe enough place here in District 13, you don't have to be involved in the war at all." I say, it comes out more harsh than intended. Josie's face again shows a wave of panic and she begins to bite her bottom lip, I narrow my eyes at her. "What?" I ask. Josie shakes her head, but I glare at her and she sighs.

"I forget to mention that I was offered to train..." She trails off. A rush of fear courses through me. "President Coin offered me a postion as a Soldier because she said I would be a good addition to the field." She squeaks out. A surge of anger rushes through me, Coin couldn't possibly think that a 14-year-old was fit to go out in a war zone?

"And you accepted?" I ask in disbelief, she's still recovering from her injuries from the Capitol, and so am I. We probably won't have to go out until my arm heels.

"I thought it was an honor that the President deemed me good enough to be a Soldier, I was so proud of myself that I hadn't given it much thought before agreeing. I begin training tomorrow." She says softly. I'm just staring at her, trying to decide whether she's being serious or not.

"Why? Josie, you're 14. You're too young to go out there. I can barely handle being out there myself and I'm older than you." I almost yell, trying to convince her she's made a mistake.

"I'm proud of my decision, Katniss. I'm doing this for my family, and I know I'll never regret my decison. Besides, you'll probably be with me wherever I go. You'll be able to keep an eye on me." Josie counters defensively.

"Josie, please. I can't risk losing another innocent life. You'll be safe here in District 13." I say, exasperated. Josie just shakes her head at my words. Unaffected.

"I'll probably be of more use trying to save lives of people who are fighting for our freedom than just moping around here. I don't know anyone here besides you, Peeta, Minnow, and Acacia. Peeta's nuts, I can't trust my former allies, you're the last thing I've got. The least you could do is give me your support" She yells, her voice high pitched. My blood boils at what she's said about Peeta.

"Fine. Go train. You'll see it was a mistake when you're dying out there! And I can promise you now that I won't be the one trying to save you!" I say coldly. Something flickers in Josie's eyes before she turns and briskly walks out of my room, I hear the door to our compartment open and slam shut.

The realization of what I've said finally sinks in and my breath catches in my throat. What did I just do?

* * *

When I arrive at the dining hall, I see that Josie isn't there. I'm dissapointed, but I understand why she wouldn't want to see me after what I'd said. I wanted to apologize to her, but it'd have to wait until we're fored to come back for bathing and eventual lights out.

I eat in silence the whole time, for the first time in a long time I don't acknowledge anyone there. Not even bothering to see who sits at my table. I'm only aware that I sit next to Delly. She tries to start a conversation with me. I almost decide to respond, but then she began apologizing about what happened to Peeta and I zoned out.

As I'm leaving the dining hall, Haymitch finds me and asks if I'd like to see Peeta. I'm skeptical, why would they allow me to see Peeta just three days after he tried to kill me? Haymitch seems to read my thoughts.

"They know he has a little control over himself, _a little_ so don't be mad if he snaps in between sentences or something. It's natural. But he'll be restrained either way and the encounter will be visualized. I'll be there watching, too. Physically, you'll be okay. Emotionally? Let's go find out." He says. His speech does nothing to calm me, it only serves to make me slightly angry.

When we arrive at the hospital, Plutarch is standing in front of a door and he claps at the sight of us, coming over to greet us.

"Katniss! We've been waiting for you! Now, go inside. Haymitch and I have to go to the viewing room. He should be calm for the most part." Plutarch says cheerfully, I scowl at him and bravely walk to the door, before hesitating with my hand on the knob. I whip around when I feel a hand on my shoulder and Haymitch gives me a sympathetic look before nodding to the door. I sigh and quietly open the door before walking in.

Peeta is staring blankly at the ceiling when I enter, he turns to me when I silently close the door. My footsteps make no sounds as I make my way halfway through his room before stopping and turning my attention to my feet.

"Sorry about the other day, but I won't bite you know?" He says in a light tone, I perk up at the sound of his voice. It sounds like Peeta before we were broken out of the arena. I stare at him for a long while, noticing every bruise and stitch before speaking.

"I'm sorry." Is all I say. He raises his eyebrows and I sigh before hesitantly stepping closer and sitting in the seat next to his hospital bed. Surprisingly, he reaches out to me and I carefully lace our fingers together, making sure he isn't trying to break my hand or something. He notices.

"I really am sorry. I imagine that I'm the one who put your arm in that sling?" He asks quietly. I jump to his defense.

"No! Well, yes, but, you didn't mean to." I stammer. The corners of his mouth slightly raise at my response.

"Your right arm too, you won't be able to use a bow for a while now. You have every right to be mad at me." Peeta says. Anger rises in me, he's the one who's been tortured and used to hurt the rebellion in the Capitol and he thinks that I should be _mad_ at him? I bet Haymitch is relaying his little sentence to the others about me not deserving him.

"Are you serious? You've been in the Capitol for two months and want me to hate you? I've been worried sick just thinking about they were doing to you!" I say in disbelief. He flinches at my words and closes his eyes tightly, squeezing my fingers. At first I'm worried that he's trying to hurt me and stand up, trying to pull away. My actions only cause his grip to become tighter and I begin to panic.

"No, please don't go. I need you, Katniss." He whispers, so quietly I almost don't hear him. Something in my heart stings at his words and tears begin to burn in my eyes. _He doesn't want to hurt me, he never wanted to hurt me_. _What he did the other day is the Capitol's doing,_ I tell myself.

I sit down and give him a reassuring squeeze, unable to comfort him any further because my right hand won't be of any use due to the sling. I bite my lip, wanting to say something. But I've never been good with words.

"I'm sorry." I whisper quietly. His grip is as tight as mine was on our first Chariot ride and his teeth are clenched. My tears are silently sliding down my cheeks as I watch him struggle. It takes at least ten minutes until I feel his grip start to relax.

"No, you're fine." He eventually whispers out, his eyes shut tight. I want to wipe my tears away before he sees I've been crying, but I can't with my left hand in his right and my right hand in my sling. I only respond with a small, 'okay.' and he opens his eyes. His eyes immediately soften and I force myself not to be mad, he's still Peeta. Well, part of him.

"I'm pretty sure I just lost Josie to this war, and..." I trail off, not knowing what to say. Instead, I bite my lip and look down. I feel his grip tighten on my hand again, only this time it's even more painful, too painful. "Peeta?" I say quietly, looking up. The sound of my voice causes him to perk up and he no longer looks like he did before. Like the day he lashed out, his eyes are an unfamiliar dark blue and he has an angry look in his eyes that I've never seen before.

"She's probably dead because of you... You left us behind to die. I know who you are, Katniss. You may have fooled the Districts, but you'll never fool me. You're a mutt, you've always been a mutt and I can't believe I ever trusted you." He growls.

Tears are pouring down my cheeks at his words and I'm fighting a sob, a squeak does however pass my lips without permission. I try to pry my hand away, but it seems as if he just noticed our entwined hands because he gives me a devious smile before presuming to crush my fingers.

In a desperate attempt to calm him down I almost say something crazy. "No, Peeta I l-" I manage to spit out, but the door bursts open and Haymitch and Plutarch walk in. _Why them_? _They're going to make it worse_. Sure enough, his grip impossibly tightens and I screech out in pain. Plutarch gets me to stand, but Peeta's grip is too tight, his hands curled in my fingers now.

"You what?" Peeta hisses and I open my mouth, hoping my words make him stop, but Haymitch pries his hand off and I gasp at the relief of my hand not being crushed. "Stop! You what?" He yells out as Haymitch tries to pull me away, but my feet are planted on the ground as I try to respond. He's struggling against the restraints now, trying to break free.

"Katniss, now." Haymitch growls. I make no move though, and he resorts to picking me up off the ground and throwing me over his shoulder. Plutarch leads us out as I fight to hold in a sob, I can't let anyone see me this weak. This can wait until I find a hiding place. I look up just before Plutarch closes the door and see Peeta's eyes are almost back to normal and he looks at me in disbelief. For some reason I can not explain, I reach my hand out to him just as Plutarch tries to close the door and I yell in pain as my hand is crushed between the door.

"He-" I begin, the mix of my hand being clamped under a door and Peeta squeezing it makes the pain unbearable. "Please take me back." I say. Plutarch opens the door just enough for my hand to slip out, but I grab onto the doorframe.

"Come on, Sweetheart. He's not ready. Let go." Haymitch says over his shoulder. I shake my head though, and although it hurts, I tighten my grip on the frame. "Katniss!" Haymitch says again, but I refuse. He sighs. "Do you seriously want to go back?" He says, irritated. I nod and Haymitch makes an exasperated sound and puts me down. "I'll be right here, with the door open." He warns, I nod and walk back inside. Peeta's looking down at my now purple hand in horror.

"No." Peeta says harshly. I'm confused, his eyes look sad. "Go. Haymitch is right, I'm not ready. I only ever hurt you." He says in a quiet but firm tone. I begin to shake my head, but Haymitch is already at my side, pulling my left arm towards the door.

"But, Peeta, you don't mean-" I stammer, but Haymitch cuts me off with the squeeze of his hand and I squeak at the feel of his grip tightening on my arm. I sigh and my tears burn even more in my eyes. Haymitch continues to pull me out, I only look back once to see the miserable look in Peeta's eyes before I tear my gaze away. _I can't stay here_. _Not with him like this_. I voice my thoughts to Haymitch and Plutarch. They look surprised.

"Where do you want to go? You have a broken arm and maybe even a broken hand." Haymitch asks.

My answer is immediate, "I don't care, take me anywhere. I don't want to be here anymore." I say. Haymitch's jaw clenches and he looks to Plutarch.

"The only District not on out side yet is District 2." Plutarch says. I nod my head and Haymitch looks angry.

"Then take me to District 2." I say.

* * *

One month later, my bruises are gone and my arm is out of it's sling, ready to be used. Haymitch still isn't on board, but Gale has promised to protect me at all times. It doesn't calm his worries, but Gale's promise and the fact Coin gives it the okay forces him to comply. _Not without an earpiece that connects me to Haymitch at all times_ , I think. _Of course_.

Nothing happens to me in District 2, as Gale keeps his promise and sticks by my side at all times. That is until he gets comfortable enough to let me lead a crowd. Because that's when I get shot.

* * *

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Surprisingly, I have most of this story planned out already. It should be 26 chapters long with an Epilogue, that means we're officially 1/3 of the way there. Oh, and sorry in advance if any of you think any of the characters were OOC, the ending may have been rushed a little, but my hand would have fallen off if I'd written down all of the events that happened in Mockingjay while they were in District 2, haha! (:**_

 _ **Also, I'd like to let you all know that August is approaching, which is the time I go back to school. Ugh, haha! But I just wanted to let you guys know that I won't be updating as often because my main focus will be on school. This will be one of the stories I will update regularly because I've written out every chapter. Just thought I'd let you all know, until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV **

As I begin to regain conciousness, I register a small pain in my abdomen. But due to the amount of morphling being pumped into me, I hardly feel a thing. So instead, I lay here, feeling empty. My hands ghost over to my left, where the bullet struck me. I feel the thick bandages on my ribs and begin to wonder how I'm still alive, I try to sit up, but the only thing I'm met with is pain and I moan.

The white curtain that divides my bed from another patients' pulls back and I stare into the face of Johanna Mason. I feel threatened at first, but then my mind travels back to the memory of Haymitch and Plutarch telling me that she only attacked me to remove my tracker.

"I'm alive." I say, my throat sore from neglect.

"No kidding, brainless." Johanna responds, walking over and sitting on my bed. I feel sharp pain shoot up my chest and I grit my teeth. Johanna grins. "Still a little sore?" She questions, removing my morphling drip and attaching it to her arm. "They started cutting back my supply a few days ago. Afraid I'm going to turn into one of those freaks from 6. I've had to borrow from you when the coast was clear. Didn't think you'd mind."

How could I mind when she was almsot tortured to death by Snow in the Capitol. She knows I have no right to mind, and she's using it to her advantage.

"Maybe they were onto something in 6. Drug yourself out and paint flowers on your body. Not such a bad life. Seemed happier than the rest of us, anyway." Johanna says, sighing in pleasure as the morphling drips into her bloodstream.

Johanna's managed to gain some of her weight back while I was in 2. Even some hair had begun to sprout in various patches around her head, hiding some of the scars. But the fact that she's taking my morphling tells me that she's struggling, I may not know specifically what way, but she's struggling nontheless.

Johanna then begins to tell me of a doctor who visits her on a daily basis, who's supposed to be helping her recover. She tells me that he tells her she's safe at least 20 times per session. We both laugh at that, saying it's a stupid thing to say to a victor. "How about you, Mockingjay? You feel totally safe?" She asks.

"Oh, yeah. Right up until I got shot." I say, she laughs.

"Please. That bullet never even touched you. Cinna made sure of it. All you got out of it were bruised ribs and no spleen." She says casually, "You don't need one though, if you did, I'm sure they'd find you one. It's everybody's job to keep you alive afterall." She says.

"Is that why you hate me?" I ask honestly.

"Partly," She admits. "Jealousy is certainly involved. I also think you're a little hard to swallow. With your tacky romantic drama and your defender-of-the-helpless act. Only it isn't an act, which makes you even more unbearable." She says, "Please feel free to take this personally." She adds, I manage a small smile.

"You should have been the Mockingjay. No one would've had to feed you lines." I admit.

"True. But no one likes me." She tells me.

"They trusted you, though. To get me out," I remind her. " _And_ they're afraid of you." I say. Johanna chuckles.

"Here maybe. In the Capitol, you're the one they're afraid of now." She says. Gale then appears in the doorway. Johanna skillfully detaches the morphling from her arm and reattaches the drip into my arm. She hops out of my bed then and makes her way to the doorway, "Your cousin's not afraid of me, are you, gorgeous?" She says confidentally, bumping her hip into his leg as she leaves. Her laughter still audible after she's gone.

I raise my eyebrows at him in question as he takes my hand, he mouths the word "Terrified." I laugh, but it turns into a wince. "Easy." He says, stroking my face as the pain ebbs. "You've got to stop running straight into trouble." He says.

"I know. But someone here blew up a mountain." I counter. Instead of the expected recoil, he leans in closer, searching my face. "You think I'm heartless." He says softly.

"I know you're not. But I'm not going to tell you it's okay." I tell him. He draws back now, irritated.

"Katniss, what difference is there, really, between crushing our enemy in a mine or blowing them out of the sky with one of Beetee's arrows? The result is the same." He says.

"I don't know. We were under attack in District 8, for one thing. The _hospital_ was under attack." I say.

"Yes, and those hoverplanes were from District 2. So, by taking them out, we prevented further attacks." He says.

"But that kind of thinking... you could turn it into an argument for killing anyone at any time. You could justify sending kids into the Hunger Games to prevent the Districts from getting out of line." I say.

"I don't buy that." He tells me.

"I do." I reply. "It must be those trips to the arena." I add.

"Fine. We know how to disagree," He says. "We always have. Maybe it's good. Between you and me, we've got Disrict 2 now."

"Really?" I feel a small sense of triumph at the news, but then I remember the people on the square. "Was there fighting after I was shot?" I ask.

"Not much. The workers from the Nut turned on the Capitol soldiers. The rebels just sat by and watched," He says. "Actually, the whole country just sat by and watched."

"Well, that's what they do best." I say.

 _. . ._

* * *

I'm up and moving almost instantly. The pain's severe the first few days, and I actually begin to resent letting Johanna take my morphling, but I still let her take as much as she likes.

As part of my recovery, they let me walk above ground. One day, Plutarch joins me to update me on how we're doing. The rebels are taking a small break after having District 2 allied with us to regroup. We're pretty relaxed and friendly with each other until he mentions the fact that he's planning a wedding. I stop in my tracks then, disgusted with what he's implying. Plutarch catches on quickly to my train of thought.

"Oh, no, Katniss. Not your wedding. Finnick and Annie's. All you need to do is show up and pretend to be happy for them." He soothes.

"That's one of the few things I won't have to pretend, Plutarch," I tell him with a small smile. Finnick and Annie truly deserve this after what they've been through, this may be one of Plutarch's more brilliant ideas.

* * *

 _ **The book came of very, very good use in this chapter. I love where this story's going so far an I can't wait for you guys to read the next chapters, this was more of a filler for the next one since school started August 13th for me and things have been crazy. I hope you guys aren't disappointed with the length, but I'm sure Finnick and Annie's wedding should make up for it, haha! I plan on posting it tomorrow, and as I said before, everything's planned and mostly written out. So, I will be posting a new chapter every Monday starting tomorrow. I hope you check out my other stories while I update this one! Until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

After Plutarch tells me of his plans of Finnick and Annie's wedding, my schedule has been a flurry of planning and preparing for activites. The differences between the Capitol and District 13 begin to show now, Coin's idea of a wedding is having the couple in question sign a piece of paper and get a compartment together. But Plutarch means hundreds of people dressed in finery at a _three-day_ celebration. I have to say, it's pretty amusing watching them haggle over the details of the wedding.

"What's the point of the propo if no one's having any fun!" Plutarch yelled when Coin vetoed a dinner, entertainment, and alcohol. It's hard to put a Gamemaker on a budget, but even a quiet celebration causes a stir in 13, where they seem to have no holidays at all.

There isn't a shortage of volunteers for any part of the wedding. Almost every kid shows up to sing a wedding song, and an endless amount of people volunteer to help make decorations. It's all anyone ever hears about in the dining hall. I think it may have more to do than the festivities, I have a feeling this is what the people of 13 have longed to be a part of. I even volunteer to take Annie back to my house in the Victor's Village so she can pick one of the dresses from the Victory Tour that have been hidden in my closet. Although I'm a bit leery about being with Annie since all I really know about her is that Finnick loves her and everybody thinks she's mad.

On the hovercraft ride to 12, I decide she's less mad than unstable. I noticed when I tried to start conversation with her that she would often laugh at random points or zone out as if something else caught her attention, when really there was nothing there. Her lovely sea green eyes often fixate on empty spaces with such focus that I can't help but try to see myself if something's there. Sometimes, for no reason at all, she puts her hands over her ears as if to block out a painful sound like Finnick and I did when we were attacked with the Jabberjays. She _is_ strange, but if Finnick loves her, that's good enough for me.

I even got permission for my prep team to come along, which luckily relieves me of making any fashion decisions.

But when I open my closet, we all fall silent at the sight of Cinna's beautiful creations. I'm then met with the heartbreaking image of Octavia dropping to her knees, rubbing the hem of a skirt to her cheek as she bursts into tears. "It's been so long," She begins, "so long since I've seen anything pretty." In the end, Annie chooses a beautiful green silk dress that compliments her eyes quite beautifully.

* * *

Despite Coin's claims that it's too much and Plutarch's claims that it's not enough, the wedding is a hit. The three hundred guests from 13 and the refugees from 12 wear their everyday clothes, the decorations are made from autumn foliage, the music is provided by a choir of children accompanied by the fiddler who made it out of 12 with his instrument. It's simple, but frugal by the Capitol's standards. I can only imagine what I'd have gone though if Peeta and I's wedding had taken place before the Quell, three days of horror for sure.

Nothing though, can compare to the beauty of the couple. It doesn't have to do with their borrowed clothes, even if it does make them look striking. But, who can look past the radiant faces of the two people who this day was once a virtual impossibility? Dalton, the cattle guy from 10 conducts the ceremony, since it's similar to the one used in their District. Although there are unique touches that come with traditions in 4, such as the woven net that's draped over the couple during their vows, the touching of each other's lips with salt water, and the ancient wedding song that points out the resemblances of marriage and sea voyage. The ceremony is very beautiful, and it was heart-warming to see Mags' reaction above all. Of course, I don't have to pretend to be happy for them at all.

After the kiss that seals their union, the cheers, and the toast with apple cider, the fiddler strikes up a tune that turns every head from District 12. We may have been the smallest, poorest District in Panem, but we know how to dance. Nothing has been officially scheduled, but I'm sure Plutarch has kept his fingers crossed for this, since he's calling the propo in the control room.

Sure enough, Greasy Sae pulls Gale to the center of the floor and faces off with him. People join in, forming two long lines, and the dancing begins. I just stand off to the side, clapping to the rhythm until a bony hand pinches my elbow.

"Are you going to miss the chance to let Snow see you dancing?" She asks, and I find she's right. "Maybe even if you have the courage to dance with him, I'd like to inform you that loverboy's standing near the doorway. The guards let him come for a little special event they refused to let me in on." Johanna says with a scowl. I turn, not believing her words until my eyes land on none other than Peeta Mellark. He seems to be doing the same thing I was, standing off in the distance, clapping his hand to the rhythm. But I don't have the courage to dance with him, so I turn back to Johanna and shake my head nervously.

"You're right, but I don't think I'll dance with him just yet." I say softly. Johanna smirks and walks off, mumbling about taking advantage of it. I feel a ping of jealousy, which is a new sensation, but she's Johanna.

Just then, I feel a hand grab mine and I look up to see Gale pulling me off to the dance floor. I feel my face flush and want to refuse, but he just smiles and drags me along. It's not too bad, it turns out to be really fun. I'm laughing as we're doing silly dances and he's twirling me around. Then I see a small hand on his shoulder and find Prim standing behind him.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take my sister for a dance?" She says with a small smile. I chuckle, but Gale jokingly wraps his arms protectively around me and turns away.

"And what if I do mind?" He says with a serious face, I laugh and smack his arm with the back of my hand and he gets a fake sad look on his face, but Prim just giggles.

"Then I'd take her with me anyway. Come on, Katniss." She says, pulling my hand away. Gale pretends to pout as Greasy Sae comes back for him and I laugh again. I've never been so happy, but Finnick and Annie's wedding has brought out the best in me.

"Don't worry, I'll come back to steal you later." He yells across the room. I shake my head with a smirk as Prim and I begin to dance together. Lucky we had plenty of time to practice during the long winter days in 12 before the Quell. We'd only been dancing for about 10 minutes when I hear Johanna's voice and whip around to find her hauling Peeta, who doesn't look very happy.

"Look who I finally dragged out here!" She says proudly, "Let's dance, pretty boy." She says. Peeta's face flushes and I laugh at her. Peeta looks up at the sound and smiles slightly at me before Johanna pulls him away.

"I didn't know he was here? I thought he'd have been under guard supervision if he were to be out. Especially around you. I've heard of your previous two encounters, and I know Peeta means no harm, but I still worry for you, Katniss." She says softly. I look at my sister with pure admiration and twirl her around.

"Oh, Little Duck, what I would do without you? He's okay for the most part. It's just... certain things that set him off. What could possibly set him off here in such a happy atmosphere like Finnick and Annie's wedding?" I ask nervously. Prim gives me a knowing look.

"Maybe the fact that you two were in a fake engagement?" She points out, I can feel my face fall and Prim gets a worried look on her face. "I didn't mean to make you upset, Katniss, but it's true, and I don't want that memory to set him off. You'll be careful, okay?" She says, I comply for her sake and a look of satisfaction crosses her face just as Peeta and Johanna make their way back to us.

"He really knows how to dance!" Johanna calls, Prim giggles and I allow myself a small smile. Peeta's face flushes once again at her compliment. Prim and I let go of our positions and stand side by side to watch as Johanna prances around with Peeta in tow right in front of us. Prim's giggling like crazy at Johanna's silly antics. I then feel a pair of hands grab my shoulders and spin me around. I'm met with the gray eyes of my best friend and I smile.

"Told you I'd be back." He says, "Although it took me a while to slip out of Greasy Sae's grasp." He whispers. I crack a smile and look over to where Greasy Sae is eyeing us as she gestures that she's watching me, I don't know why, but I find this hilarious and burst out in a fit of laughter. Greasy Sae smiles at me and returns to dancing with others as I compose myself.

"Excuse me, _I_ was dancing with Katniss." Prim says, I turn to find her no longer distracted with Johanna, but standing in false disapproval. Gale wraps his arms protectively over me again and declares that she's had a long turn.

Johanna laughs at the altercation. "Don't worry, Prim. _I'll_ dance with you." Johanna says, extending her arms out to Prim, but Prim giggles and runs to Peeta.

"I'd rather take my chances with Peeta, sorry Johanna." She says, trying to keep a stern face as she begins to dance with Peeta. Johanna fakes a look of disappointment before turning to Gale and I with a hungry look on her face. I realize Gale hasn't let go of me and decide that it's enough of this silliness, but he discreetly pulls me tighter to him.

"I guess it's your turn then, gorgeous." She says to Gale. I smirk and Gale looks at me, pleading with his eyes and I push him over to her. He mouths, "You're going to get it." before Johanna hauls him away deep in the crowd and I loose sight of him. I decide that since Prim and Gale are busy, I'll find my seat and continue to clap to the music. I do just that and it's just as fun as dancing, but this is better for my bruised ribs. Especially after my laughing fit. I hear the sound of a chair scraping to my left and turn to find Josie.

"Why aren't you dancing?" She questions quietly. I look her in her eyes, but she's purposefully not looking at me, keeping her eyes on the dancing figures.

"I just sat down not too long ago, it's better for my ribs. What about you?" I respond. Josie's always been a soft girl, and I don't miss the look of concern that claims her face before she puts on the iron mask that I so often do.

"I heard, and saw, about your accident. I'm sorry I didn't come to see you, I've just been busy training for something." She begins softly before turning to me, a pained look in her eyes. "But I don't really know anyone here. I mean, usually I have no problem making friends with new people, but ever since I got back from the Capitol, I've found it very hard to trust people." She says quietly before looking away again, but I don't miss the tears glistening in her eyes.

"You're fine. I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean it. I was just..." I trail off, I don't like to express my emotions, but Josie deserves this after what I've said. I sigh before continuing. "I was just worried about you, you're old enough to train but I just want you to be safe. I don't want you to be in any more danger." I say. Josie turns back to me before grabbing my left hand in her right.

"It means a lot to know you care, but I can handle myself. You can't protect everyone, and Coin thinks I can do this. My training is going very well, Coin's very pleased with my progress. She thinks I can go on the next mission. I just need a couple weeks more training and do my Exam on the Block." She says proudly with a happy smile. I bite my lip, I really don't want her to go out on the field, but what's this about a mission she's kept mentioning? I'm about to ask her when a huge smile crosses her face and she stands up, I look up and see Peeta and Prim.

"Josie?" Peeta asks, confused. She smiles and nods. "I thought they... I didn't know you were here." He says. She presses her lips together.

"I'm sorry I haven't been to visit you, I've been very busy with training." Josie explains, he nods but I can tell it's not true. Someone like her would fight to see her old mentor, even if she was exhausted from training. Not to mention she used the same explanation she said to me.

"Oh, that's fine. I haven't really had any visitors apart from Katniss, Haymitch, some doctors, and an old friend of mine named Delly." He offers. Josie looks confused but waves it off.

"Well, it's nice to see you out." She says politely before turning to Prim. "And you're Primrose, right? Katniss' younger sister?" She asks, Prim smiles and extends a hand in greeting.

"Yes, just call me Prim. You're Josie, right? Katniss' female tribute?" Prim asks. Josie winces before composing herself with a bright smile.

"Mhm. Would you like to dance?" Josie asks, shaking Prim's hand kindly. Prim smiles in her winning manner before accepting the invitation. I watch them walk away, and at the last second, Josie turns to me and gives me a small wink. I scowl at her and she smiles before disappearing into the crowd with my little sister. Peeta stands there awkwardly for a moment, wringing his hands.

"I'm sorry about the other day." He says quietly, staring at the ground. I bite my lip and shake my head.

"It wasn't your fault." I say, trying to keep my voice steady. Peeta looks up at me and studies my face a moment.

"I thought you hated me, I haven't seen you in over a month, and then one day I see you get shot on live television. I thought you were gone for good until Haymitch confirmed to me you were still alive." He says. I begin to feel guilty, had it really been over a month since I last visited him? One month of healing my arm and hand, over two weeks in District 2, and over a month of healing my ribs... it hasn't just been over a month since I'd last seen him, but almost 3.

"Oh, I'm..." I trail off, can I really just say sorry to that? "I'm sorry. I hadn't realized it'd been that long." I say quietly. Peeta looks at me as if he expects me to say more, but he knows I'm done when I look away. He sighs.

"I guess I deserve it though, I _did_ try to attack you." He says softly. I shake my head, why does he have to be so kind? If I were him, I'd be fuming.

"No. You didn't. Now stop saying that." I say impatiently, I can tell he's about to apologize so I hold my hand up to silence him. "No, don't apologize." I say. He nods and we just continue to stand there in silence before he holds out a hand and I look at him, puzzled.

"I don't know if I'm allowed to, but until someone says otherwise, would you like to dance with me?" He asks. I search his eyes for a moment before nodding and placing my hand in his. He leads me off into the crowd and we begin to dance. I remember that we haven't danced together since the party at Snow's Mansion at the end of our Victory Tour and I press my lips together, hopefully he doesn't think of that.

After a while of dancing, someone calls out to Peeta that it's time for the surprise and he apologizes before leaving. Gale claims me to dance once again, but it's not too long until a cake is rolled in, I look at it in wonder. Gasping, I begin to walk closer to the cake, it could only have been made by one person. Most of the guests back up, giving it space and I feel as if my suspicions are confirmed when I see that it's Peeta helping wheel it in. I'm one of the people in the front of the crowd now, Gale behind me with my right hand in his left.

Peeta calls out for 'the lovely couple' and Finnick appears with Annie in tow. She squeals at the sight of it and I smile, Finnick looks so happy with Annie. And he's looking at her so lovingly that no one can doubt how much he loves her. Finnick thanks Peeta for the cake and they share a brief hug before Peeta engulfs Annie in a small hug as well. Peeta then begins to step away so they can part the cake.

I turn around to look at Gale. "I can't believe Peeta made that." I say. Gale stares down at me with a questioning look. "And why not?" He asks. I sigh. He hasn't seen what happens when Peeta's in one of his moods, so I just shake my head and turn my attention back to the cake. But when I look around, I notice Peeta's gone. Only Finnick and Annie are there sharing a piece of cake before they begin to cut pieces for other's as well.

The rest of the party turns out to be great, we eat cake before dancing a little more and then everyone leaves. Johanna and I return to the hospital together. The entire way, she talks about Gale and she just sounds so ridiculous I can't help but laugh.

* * *

 _ **I hope this chapter made up for the last one, it was fun to write. I hope you guys check out my other stories while I update this one! I'd also like to let you guys know that I have all the information regarding every single one of my stories on my profile, be sure to check it out! Happy 5th Anniversary to Mockingjay as well! Until next time!**_

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

I'm fuming as I make my way to Command, I'm running through the halls like a mad woman, but I won't stand by and let Coin keep me from going out to the Capitol. This is _my_ fight. I don't even bother to knock, I just walk right in during a war meeting.

"What do you mean, I'm not going to the Capitol? I have to go! I'm the Mockingjay!" I tell Coin. She barely even looks at me.

"And as the Mockingjay, your primary goal of unifying the Districts against the Capitol has been achieved. don't worry **-** if it goes well, we'll fly you in for the surrender." She says. The surrender?

"That'll be too late! I'll miss all the fighting. You need me **-** I'm the best shot you've got!" I shout. I don't usually brag about this, but it's got to be at least close to true. "Josie and Gale are going! And _she's_ fourteen!"

"They've both shown up for training every day unless occupied with other approved duties. We feel confident that they can manage in the field. And, age doesn't matter." says Coin. "How many training sessions have you attended?"

None. But I won't go down with that. "Well, sometimes I was hunting. And... I trained with Beetee down in Special Weaponry." I counter.

"It's not the same, Katniss." Boggs says. "We all know you're smart and brave and a good shot. But we need soldiers in the field. You don't know the first thing about executing orders, and you're not exactly at your physical peak."

"That didn't bother you when I was in Eight. Or Two, for that matter." I say.

"You weren't originally authorized for combat in either case." says Plutarch, giving me a look that tells me not to reveal too much.

"And both resulted in your injury." Boggs reminds me.

"But I have to go." I say.

"Why?" Coin asks.

"Because of Twelve. Because they destroyed my District." I say with an edge to my tone. The president thinks about this a moment.

"Well, you have three weeks. It's not long, but you can begin training. If the Assignment Board deems you fit, your case will possibly be reviewed." She says. And with that, I make my way back to the hospital.

When I return, I find Johanna fuming. Haymitch told her what he'd told me, so I tell her about what Coin said. "Maybe you can train, too."

"Fine. I'll train. But I'm going to the Capitol if I have to kill a crew and fly there myself," says Johanna. I smirk.

"Probably best not to bring that up in training," I say. "But it's nice to know I'll have a ride." Johanna grins.

* * *

The next morning, when we report for training at 7:30, reality slaps me in the face. We've been funneled into a class of relative beginners, fourteen- or fifteen-year-olds, which seems a little insulting until it's obvious that they're in far better condition than we are. Gale and the other people already chosen to go to the Capitol are in a different, accelerated phase of training. Which is why I'm surprised to find Josie here.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be training with the big kids." Johanna teases when Josie approaches us, Josie just smiled at her, which only made Johanna scowl.

"I _am_ supposed to be training with them, but I told Coin I'd like to watch you guys train on your first day, and she agreed. I still have to train along with you of course, but I'm only here for today. She doesn't want me to miss too much of what I'm _supposed_ to be training for, but she thought I'd be a sort of . . . ' _inspiration_ ' to you." Josie says. Johanna's scowl deepens and she laughs bitterly.

"How would a tiny girl like you be an inspiration to the leader of a rebellion and a vicious victor? From what I know, you didn't really win the Games, Finnick an I's _spectacular_ tributes both prove that." Johanna countered, but Josie just gives her a genuine, bright smile.

"You'll see, Miss Mason. There's a reason I'm going to the Capitol, she's not just sending a fourteen-year-old because she can." Josie says, but then pauses and scrunches up her nose. "At least I don't think so, but I'll let you be the judges of that."

We then begin stretching, and while Josie has the time of her life showing off how flexible she is, Johanna and I are wincing with every move. Josie even proves to be far more superior than everyone else when we do hours of strengthening exercises, in which Johanna and I also find difficult. I don't even want to think about our 5-mile run.

Johanna, Josie, and I all started in a line beside each other, but as soon as it began, Josie sped off like a lightning bolt, leading the run. She'd already been long on her 3rd mile while we weren't even half way through the 1st. Josie occasionally hangs by for a minute or so to rest while laughing at Johanna's 'motivational' insults before she speeds off again. I have to drop out after the first mile.

"It's my ribs," I explain to Soldier York, our trainer. "They're still bruised."

"Well, I'll tell you, Soldier Everdeen. Those are going to take at least another month to heal up on their own." She says.

I sigh and shake my head, "I don't have a month."

She looks me up and down. "The doctors haven't offered you any treatment?

"Is there a treatment?" I ask. "They said they had to mend naturally."

"That's what they say. But they could speed up the process if I recommended it. I warn you, though, it isn't any fun." She says.

"Please. I've got to get to the Capitol." I plead. Josie strolls out, and walks over to us as Soldier York scribbles something on a pad, and she looks Josie over with a grin.

"Already done, sweetheart?" York questions proudly. Josie smiles brightly and nods her head before gesturing to me.

"What's up with, Everdeen?" She asks. I snap my head to Josie. Since when has she ever referred to me as, 'Everdeen'? I give her a questioning look, but she doesn't acknowledge me any further, all her attention on Soldier York.

"Bruised ribs. Make it hard for her to train. Good job on the run, why don't you go run alongside Johanna, looks like she needs some motivational support. I can always count on you for that, right?" Soldier York says. Josie shoots a concerned look my way before she looks back to York and shoots another charming smile.

"Of course," She responds before turning back to me. "Good luck." And with that, she sprints off to Johanna and reaches her almost immediately.

"Amazing, huh? She could've won those Games if it hadn't been for those damn Jabberjays. Who kills a girls mother right in front of her, then makes her think the rest of the people she cares about are dead the next day? The Capitol's sick. I hope you kill that bastard, _Snow_. I'm confident that after this treatment, you'll pass the Exam." Soldier York says, my mouth gapes open.

"What about her mother?" I ask, my voice barely audible. A look of panic flashes across Soldier York's face before she composes herself and gives me an icy glare as she folds her arms across her chest.

"I said who makes a fourteen-year-old believe her mother is dead with Jabberjays, along with everyone else she cares about. In an arena. Now go before I take the paper back and you don't get the treatment." She says.

I'm confused by her sudden mood change. "I'll be back for the afternoon session." I promise as she purses her lips, and I hurry off before she _really does_ take away the permission slip.

* * *

Twenty-four needle jabs to my rib cage later, I'm hanging onto my hospital bed, trying to keep myself from begging them for my morphling drip back. Today, they tested my blood to make sure it was clean of the painkiller, as the mixture of the two drugs has dangerous side affects. They told me the next couple of days would be difficult, but it's worth my ribs healing faster.

It's a bad night. I can't go to sleep with my chest burning, not to mention having to listen to Johanna fighting off withdrawal symptoms. Earlier, she waved off my apology for cutting off her morphling supply, but now I'm the target of every foul thing District 7 has to say. At dawn, she drags me out of bed, determined to go to training.

"I swear, if your little show off of a tribute is there, I'll hack her myself. Can you believe she ran a total of 9 miles yesterday? 5 of hers, and the other four while running with me. She took my job of screaming insults as I struggled to keep going. I thought District 12 was supposed to be full of wimps like you?" She teased. I gave her a glare before I sigh.

"I don't think I can do it." I confess to her.

"You can do it. We _both_ can. We're victors, remember? We're the ones who can survive anything they throw at us." She snarls. She's a sick greenish color, shaking like a leaf. I get dressed.

 **x**

I thought I almost lost Johanna when we realized it was pouring outside, her face turned gray and she seemed to have quit breathing altogether.

"It's just water, it won't kill us." I say. She clenches her jaw and stomps out into the mud. Rain drenches us as we work our bodies and then slog around the running course. Johanna actually screams into the air for Josie back for motivational insults, which only causes me to fall into a fit of laughter that only seems to cause my ribs to buise even further. I bail after a mile again, and I have to resisit the temptation of pulling my shirt off to refresh my ribs.

I force down my field lunch of soggy fish and beef stew. Johanna gets halfway through her bowl before it comes back up.

 **x**

In the afternoon, we learn to assemble our guns. I manage it, but Johanna can't hold her hands steady enough to fit the parts together, so when York's back is turned, I help her out. Even though the rain continues, the afternoon's an improvement because we're on the shooting range. At last, something I'm good at. It takes some time to adjust from a bow to a gun, but by the end of the day, I've got the best score in my class.

When we reah the inside of the hospital, Johanna stops me with her hand. "This has to stop. Us living in the hospital. Everyone views us as patients."

And that, is how Johanna moves in with Acacia and I go back to my living compartment with Josie. Hopefully I don't screw anything up this time.

* * *

 ** _My biggest fear is accidentally posting a chapter to the wrong story. I can't stress how much anxiety it gives me, you guys would think I'm crazy by how many times I double-check that this is the right chapter for the right story, haha! Anyway! Sorry if this chapter's a little short, I do hope you all enjoy it!_**

 ** _BTW, info on_ all _my stories can now be found on my profile!_**

 ** _Xoxo, Daisy_**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Hunger Games_.

 **Katniss' POV**

Johanna and I fall into a schedule. Wake up, get ready, wait by whoever isn't ready firsts' door, and then go to training together. After that, we eat in the dining hall. By the end of the week, my ribs feel like new and Johanna can assemble a rifle on her own.

Soldier York gives the pair of us an approving nod as we leave for the day, "Fine job, Soldiers."

When we're out of earshot, Johanna mutters, "I think winning the Games was easier." I chuckle, but the look on her face says she's pleased.

We're in a good mood when we reach the dining hall, and Gale's waiting to eat with me. Receiving a giant serving of beef stew doesn't hurt my mood either. "First shipment of food arrived this morning," Greasy Sae informs me. "That's real beef, from District 10. Not any of your wild dog."

"Don't remember you turning it down." Gale tosses back.

We join a group that includes Delly, Annie, Finnick, Josie, Minnow, Acacia, and Madge. It amazes me how much Finnick's improved since his marriage to Annie. The Capitol heartthrob and broken young man who helped hold me together are now replaced by someone who radiates life. And it's heartwarming to witness. I notice how he never let's go of Annie's hand, and that his natural charm and humor have surfaced for the first time. And she's lost in some daze of happiness, although there are still moments when she slips from our world and another takes her from us. That's when a few words from Finnick call her back.

It truly is sweet, and it causes an unfamiliar ache in my heart. How long has it been since I last saw Peeta? Why hasn't Haymitch updated me on his condition? Not even when he told me I wouldn't be apart of the Capitol mission.

I feel like I'm starving, and I have to force myself to slow down when I begin eating. I can tell everyone in the dining hall is in good spirits, and I have a feeling it has to do with the good meal. It's amazing how it can make people kinder, funnier, more optimistic, and remind them it's not a mistake to go on living. It's better than any medicine.

So, I try to make it last and join in the conversation. And as I listen to Finnick tell some ridiculous story about a sea turtle swimming off with his hat, I laugh without realizing he's there. Watching me. I choke on my food for a moment as he stands behind the empty seat next to Johanna.

"Peeta!" Delly squeals. "It's nice to see you out... and about." Two large guards stand behind him. Apparently he can't completely be trusted yet, not to mention the handcuffs. _He didn't have those on at the wedding_ , I think worriedly.

"Who're your new friends there?" Johanna jokes. I look at the guards behind him, one's scowling and the other, seemingly more kinder, appears to be trying not to crack a smile. I decide to smile at them, and the first one loses the scowl, while the other allows his smile to appear, my smile turns into a small grin at their responses, and I look down at my tray, satisfied. I look back up to find Peeta staring at me with an odd expression on his face, my smile leaves and I return to staring at my tray, suddenly self-conscious.

"I'm not quite trustworthy yet." Peeta responds softly, but I can still feel his stare. "I can't even sit here without your permission." I look up then, but don't direct my gaze at him.

"Sure he can sit here. We're old friends." Johanna says, patting the s

* * *

eat beside her. The kinder guard nods and Peeta sits down. The guards retreat a little father away, but they still have a clear view of us. "Peeta and I had adjoining cells in the Capitol. We're very familiar with each other's screams."

Josie gasps and Annie begins to cover her ears again and exit reality. Finnick shoots Johanna an angry look, and I instinctively turn to Josie. Her face appears to have lost all it's color.

"Now, Josie. No one quite knew where she was, but we always heard her begging for our release, right? They never listened to her. Until ironically, the day we were rescued. You've _always_ been a brave little girl, haven't you?" Johanna says teasingly, remembering she forgot to include Josie in on the bit. Josie closes her eyes tight and her hands begin to tremble as they turn into fists. On impulse, I stand from my seat and kneel beside her. Luckily she's on the end of the table and I don't have to awkwardly kneel behind her.

"What? My doctor says I'm not supposed to censor my thoughts. It's part of my therapy." Johanna says with a shrug. The light-hearted mood has gone, and we're left with a cold, awkward silence. Annie comes to after a couple minutes of Finnick reassuring her she's okay, but my attempts at reassuring Josie do nothing to help her. I begin to brush her hair as I try to soothe her, but nothing works. It only seems to have gotten worse, because now she's outright sobbing. "That's what they said. _Every single one of them._ " She repeats after every sentence I say.

Eventually, I decide I can't take watching her like this anymore, so I grab her fists in each one of my hands and lead her away from the dining hall. I mean, it's hard walking to our compartment backwards, but I don't want this gentle soul to have a breakdown in front of the eyes of almost everyone in District 13. I can feel their curious stares as we leave, and it takes everything in me to not snap at every person in the room.

As soon as we get inside, I lead her into the bathroom and dampen a washcloth before rubbing it against her face to soothe her, she stops squeezing her eyes shut, but they remain closed. I set the washcloth down and massage each of her hands free.

After that's done, I guide her back to her bed and do the only thing I think left to do, I sing her the Meadow Song until her breathing evens out. I brush her hair back a little before I realize that I left our trays and decide to go back and clean up.

When I get back, Finnick and Annie are gone and Delly can be heard squeaking at Johanna. I take a minute to evaluate whether I should leave since I'm still undetected, or make a break for it and let Gale handle our trays, when Delly spots me and waves me over. I take a hesitant step back before Johanna laughs and I huff before walking over to the table.

"You're so stupid, brainless. You had your chance, a

* * *

nd you should've taken it." Johanna chuckles. I glare at her before picking up my tray and continue to grab Josie's. "Oh, come on! I was joking! You and Finnick are acting like I gave them death threats." She whines. I look over at her and sit in the seat across from her.

"Why make a perfectly happy 14-year-old girl relive her torture? You saw yourself, she had almost completely recovered. And if she relapses, it's all on you. Because she's sure to have been one of the best Soldiers." I declare. "Hell, she's better than _us_ , Johanna. Tell her Gale, I'm sure you've seen her before." I plead. He nods, placing a hand on my forearm to try and reassure me.

"It's true, she makes some of us feel ashamed, you should've seen how weak half of us looked when Coin watched one of our training sessions. We can't afford to lose her, not to mention she's a supposed Victor, that'll play off well with the audience." Gale adds. I squeeze his shoulder in thanks and turn back to Johanna.

"So, what? I'll be there to replace her. Katniss, you told me yourself that you didn't even want her out there, shouldn't you be happy?" She asks. I sigh and shake my head.

"Not like this, I wanted her to realize how dangerous this is. I don't want her to be _forced_ not to go because of a relapse. I swear, if she's not okay by tomorrow, I'll get you in training." I yell.

"Katniss, it's okay. Josie's strong, she'll be fine. Don't get too worked up, we're in a dining hall. People are looking to you for an example, if they see you're not confident in a war without a 14-year-old, who knows what they'll think." Delly says firmly. I look at her in shock and a panicked look crosses her face. "Not that I don't believe Josie can't do it, but you need to be strong here, Katniss." She squeaks out. I soften my gaze and close my eyes before taking a deep breath.

"It's okay, Delly. You're right. I just... I don't want her to get hurt. I left her asleep in our compartment, who knows what kind of nightmares could be haunting her at this very moment. I should really get back to her. I'll see you guys later." I say softly before opening my eyes. I see that everyone's looking at me in wonder. "What?" I say defensively, setting the trays on the table and crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're very brave Katniss, and kind and caring. You're like a mother to her, you know? It shows in your actions for her. In how you defend her. You're going to be a great mother one day." Delly says kindly. I snap back into reality, and grab the trays with shaky hands before dropping them off and bolting out of the dining hall. I only have time to nod towards Peeta's guards in goodbye when I flash by before I hear someone call out my name. I don't dare look back.

My breathing is uncontrollable by the time I reach my compartment.

Delly's crazy. I could never be a mother. Never. This world... is too cruel. Nothing good is safe while Snow's alive. And I need to kill him. I need to successfully finish training so I can go to the Capitol and kill him. For what he's done to Peeta. For what he's done to Josie. For what he's done to Johanna. For what he's done to Annie. For what he's done to Finnick. For what he's done to all the Victors'. For what he's done to anyone he felt were a threat to him. He has to pay for what he's done, and I'm the one who's going to deliver the blow. And I won't stop until I do.

I drag a chair to Josie's room and sit it next to her bed. She's shaking. I wrap her up in a quilt and grab one of her hands in mine before I begin to sing the Meadow Song over and over again until I, myself, pass out.

* * *

 _ **I decided that I needed more moments involving how being a mentor, can change a victor's life, so here this chapter is. I hope you guys noticed that I included Madge! I re-read Mockingjay since this is my 3rd story going right now that involves Mockingjay, and a part in the final chapter (final chapter, not epilogue) broke my heart when Katniss talked about how sad it was that Madge died, being the one who gave Katniss her name, and I just couldn't help but include her after reading that. I hope you guys don't mind it! Anyway, I hope you guys take the time to read my other stories while I update this one! Until next time!**_

 ** _Update: I wrote this chapter before my computer broke down (again) and just recently realized/discovered that I head pre-uploaded this chapter before my computer broke._**

 ** _Anyway, I've also decided to include why I've been absent (other than because school has been back in session.) Besides the fact that my computer broke, I was shockingly involved in a car accident where a car physically hit me as I was crossing a street. It resulted in major brusing and a fractured leg. That happened a little over a month ago, and I'm just beyond thankful to be alive, and that I wasn't injured even more than I could have been. Well... I don't know what else to say about it so I'll just leave it at that._**

 ** _(Oh, and what did you all think about Mockingjay Part 2?! I can proudly admit that I cried {more like sobbed and broke down} the hardest when my poor Finnick died. Heck, I was more distraught than when I read it in the books!)_**

 _ **Xoxo, Daisy**_


End file.
